Dogs of War
by aflightoffancy
Summary: Max and Alec are finally getting everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA. Sequel to Loose the Hounds.
1. Chapter 1

**Dogs of War**

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing.

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA. Sequel to _Loose the Hounds_.

_So finally a sequel... I hope to goodness y'all enjoy it. If you need a summary of _Loose the Hounds_... Umm.... Bad stuff happened (riot, capture, poison and whatnot), Max got hurt, Alec got hurt, they got together. The end. There. That about sums it up._

Chapter One

* * *

"We've got a meeting in five," Mole said, stepping into Max and Alec's office.

"Are you kidding?" Max asked. They were in crisis mode. They had problems on their plate. Big problems.

"Well, technically, they're on their way in. Their security called our security," the transhuman added. "We've got another five before anyone actually shows up."

Alec looked unhappily toward Max then toward the papers in front of them. "Could they have picked a worse time?"

"Secretary Gordon, himself, is going to be there with the new liaison," Mole reminded them. "This ain't optional."

Max gritted her teeth. He was right. They had to go. Secretary Gordon was waiting and he'd brought the new guy they would have to deal with for all the incoming government jobs.

Alec's eyes met Max's and she saw that they were in agreement. They would have to hold off dealing with the new disaster until after the meeting. They just didn't have any other option.

The Secretary of Homeland Security had been the one to start the ball rolling on the federal trust that had legally turned Terminal City over to them. In addition, he had proposed that, on occasion, they could do work for the government that was either too hush-hush or too difficult for normal operatives to manage. They were independent contractors and they could take any job or leave it, but in practice they were bringing in a tidy income thanks to the government. Gordon was a decent guy, for a politician. He'd looked out for them, and they owed him.

That didn't mean the road hadn't been bumpy. The first liaison the secretary had appointed had been a complete disaster. He'd turned into a bossy, You-will-do-this-out-of-duty-to-your-country type and Max had thrown him out on his ass, mostly to keep Mole from beating the crap out of him and _then_ throwing him out on his ass. The second liaison had been terrified of them and that hadn't been much better, except Alec had had a lot more fun toying with that one before Max told the guy he should go and he'd run all the way back to Washington DC.

"I guess this will have to wait," Alec said, a fierce scowl on his face.

"I guess," Max echoed, not liking it any better than he did. This wasn't just a glitch they were dealing with. This was a disaster that could unravel everything they'd been trying to put together. They had an operative who'd apparently gone crazy for some reason and killed the contact he was meeting instead of performing the file hand-off like he was supposed to. It was the second such screw-up in a week and she and Alec were at a total loss for an explanation no matter how many times they went over what information they'd managed to gather. This newest disaster was just unfolding and they were trying to get as much info as they could before the evidence got whisked away by other agencies.

The biggest problem was that they both knew something was very, very wrong and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. Her eyes met Alec's and she saw the same frustration, worry, and anger that she knew were in her own.

"Quit staring at each other," Mole ordered. "I know you two have some weird telepathic thing going on, but it freaks the rest of us out."

"Mole," Alec said, turning toward him, "ya know, I'd stare at you, but Max is a whole lot better looking. I'm just shallow that way."

Mole cocked his head to one side as if in thought. "Yeah, she is, now that you mention it. You mind if I stare at her, too?"

Alec smiled sweetly. "As long as you don't mind having that cigar crammed down your throat."

"Are you two idiots through?" Max asked dryly.

Alec glanced at her then back to Mole. "I don't know. Are we?"

Mole shrugged. "Good enough for now anyway."

Max just rolled her eyes. The two were impossible. She never would have pegged the two men to be such friendly enemies, but they never seemed to tire of the other's company. Mole was still all growls and temper, while Alec remained all smiles and persuasion, but they seemed to work well together and both worked as hard as she did for the sake of Terminal City.

"Come on," she said. "Let's get this over with."

Mole and Alec immediately sobered. They fell in beside her and walked toward the building just inside the gates where they held all their meetings with people from outside TC. It was close to a tunnel that had been built to bring people in without it being public knowledge that they were visiting the "freaks." Civilian customers, especially the big companies, liked having a transgenic handling their dirty work for them. They just didn't want anyone to know it. In addition, since their deal with the government the transgenics were essentially being used as spies, or a solution of last resort. A lot of the government types didn't want it known they'd been there to ask for help.

Max, Alec and Mole walked into the lobby past their own guards and headed toward the big conference room down the hall. There were more guards outside it, both transgenic and fed-flavored.

As they approached, Max could practically smell the fear coming off one of the visitors. He appeared calm, but he was staring a little too hard at the wolfish transhuman standing across from him. The guard, of course, knew the effect he was having on the man and smiled, showing him a perfect set of canines just made for ripping into flesh.

"Fred, quit scaring the ordinaries," Max ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, trying for subdued, although his laughing wolfish eyes remained on the nervous guard.

Max looked toward the other human guard and saw that he was one who'd been there before with the Homeland Security Secretary. "Hey, Terry. How's it going?"

"Very well, ma'am. Thank you," the man said formally. He was about thirty, had dark brown hair cut short but not too severely. He had an earpiece to match his partner's, as well as an almost matching fed-required suit.

"I've told you, you can call me Max," she chided.

"Wolf Boy called you ma'am," Terry observed.

"Yeah, but he likes pissing me off." Max smiled and the guard returned it with a tiny smile of his own. Max liked him. He was good at his job. He didn't hold their birth against them, but she knew he'd do his best to take her out if he thought for a second she was a real threat to the secretary or the new liaison. She respected him all the more for it.

"Please tell me this new government guy is better than the last one," Alec said.

"I'll let you judge for yourself, sir," the guard responded.

"Nice and formal, Terry. Your trainers would be proud," Alec said, a hint of sarcasm showing.

The guard tapped his earpiece reminding them that they had an audience and he was on his best behavior. Alec sobered almost instantly, and he nodded in understanding. The sudden change was startling, but Max understood the cause. Alec knew all about the perils of the bosses listening in. He wasn't going to get another "soldier" in trouble unnecessarily.

"Get on with it," Mole growled, causing the other, jumpy fed to actually reach for his weapon.

Before Max could even blink there were four weapons pointed at the man, Alec first, then Mole and the two transgenic guards.

"If that gun clears its holster," Alec warned, "we're really not going to be happy."

"Take your hand away from your gun," Terry ordered his fellow guard. "Very. Slowly."

The younger fed just stared at them wide-eyed, his hand clutching the gun's grip. His eyes glanced toward his counterpart then back to Alec who was closest to him. Max was unarmed and Alec had placed himself very firmly between her and the current danger.

"Warren, I said take your hand away from your gun," Terry tried again, his voice deliberately low and even. "You started this and they're not going to lower their weapons until you do."

The man took a deep steadying breath and carefully took his hand off his gun. He then held his hands up to verify to everyone that he was unarmed. Mole and the two guards lowered their weapons, but not Alec. Alec remained where he was, between Max and the guard, with his gun poised.

"Any time now, Alec," Max said. She set a hand against his back and felt how tense the muscles were, stretched tight and ready to spring. Since the riot, Alec hadn't dealt well with anyone threatening her. Transgenic or human, he made sure everyone knew they had to go through him to get to Max. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy when she wasn't ready to kick his ass for being overprotective.

"I want him escorted out," Alec said, his voice dropping to a growl.

"Not you, Fred," Max immediately said when the grinning wolf transhuman began to step forward. "Barney," she looked over her shoulder to Fred's partner, "take him back to their car or wherever."

Terry was speaking into a mic as she turned back toward the fed security team. He didn't look pleased, but he still nodded his agreement. The frightened guard now looked both mortified and terrified at the same time. He looked to Terry, who was clearly the senior partner of the team. Terry shook his head, just barely. "Go with him, Warren. Send Whitfield back to replace you."

Barney left his place against the wall and began walking toward the lobby of the building. "Come on, Warren. Let's go," he said, his tone friendly. "You're gonna have to man up if you're gonna be a fed. You see one whiny little wolf boy and you get all nervous. Man, I was in Indonesia a couple of years ago. You wanna talk about scary…"

Barney kept up a running commentary until they were out of earshot, clearly working on damage control, after such an unfortunate incident. The bad thing was that it had happened too many times now that they'd been forced to let the government types come to call when they needed a job done. It was the reason that they were all armed even though this was only a business meeting.

Alec sighed, and very carefully put his gun away at the small of his back. Max smacked him on the back of the head. "Idiot," she murmured affectionately.

"What was I supposed to do? Let him shoot you?" Alec demanded.

"He wasn't gonna shoot her, he was gonna shoot me," Mole snapped.

"Oh." Alec frowned. "So you're saying I missed a golden opportunity?"

Mole snarled, although there was no real anger behind it, and Alec broke into a grin. He turned toward the remaining fed. "Terry? Don't bring another guard like that in here, ok?"

"I apologize," Terry said quickly.

Alec's brief moment of levity melted away and he faced the man head on. "I won't take it quite so nicely next time. Do we understand each other, Terry?"

The guard didn't flinch. He just nodded. "Understood."

Max once again set her hand against Alec's back. She wouldn't dare touch his arm, or wrap a hand around his waist. Alec wouldn't appreciate her impeding his movement, especially not in high stress situations where he might be called on to act quickly.

She'd seen it more and more since their arrival in Terminal City. She'd never noticed all that much when they were out running around as Jam Pony messengers, but the longer they were here, the easier it was to see that Alec was a trained soldier. She saw how easily command came to him, and how easy setting up operations both at home and out in the field were. He had a lot more training, and years more conditioning than she did. She doubted he even realized he was doing it. Not that he even led, really. People just seemed to follow him when he was on the move.

"So..." Alec smiled widely and clapped his hands together. "Let's go meet the new guy."

"I hope he's in a better mood than you are," Mole grumbled.

"I'm always in a good mood," Alec replied. He then turned to Fred. "Call Command. I want another guard here ASAP."

"Yes, sir," the wolf transhuman answered, this time with none of the sarcasm he'd used when he called Max, ma'am. Max tried not to take it personally that many of the inhabitants took more easily to Alec's command than hers. Alec had suffered with them through all of the hard years. He'd proven himself then, and he'd continued to earn their respect since their emancipation. Max was respected, but not exactly trusted, not quite yet, but it was getting better.

Alec opened the door and stepped through first, once again acting as Max's shield. Secretary Gordon stood as they entered, as well as another man they'd never seen before. He was roughly forty years old, with prematurely graying hair, cut short in the typical politician length. He was wearing a nice suit, although not as expensive as Secretary Gordon's, so Max assumed he was several steps lower on the food chain.

"Max, Alec, Mole," the Homeland Security Secretary said with a smile. "Nice to see you all again."

Secretary Gordon had an easy charm about him and Max couldn't help liking him. After all, he'd cut through reams of red tape and, with the President's say-so, gotten things finally working in their favor. With this man's help they had a place to call their own, even if it was a rundown dump like Terminal City.

"Decided to come slumming again?" Alec smiled as he took the secretary's hand.

"Have to admit, the weather out here just gets more and more inviting," the man replied with a laugh.

"Tell me about it," Alec huffed. "Cats and water. We couldn't be more at home. We're thinking of putting in a pool behind one of the apartment buildings."

Max had to smile. She'd liked Gordon almost immediately, although she hadn't really understood why, because the first time they'd met, Alec had been near death's door. It wasn't until she'd met Gordon again, that time with Alec in tow that she'd figured it out. Secretary Gordon was a lot like Alec. He was smart, charming, persuasive, and he took charge when the need arose.

"Allow me to introduce James Kincaid," the secretary said, motioning toward the man at his side. "I've known him for several years now and I believe you will work well together."

They all dutifully shook hands and then sat down on their respective sides of the conference table. Kincaid glanced a little more warily at Mole than at Max and Alec, but that was to be expected. It wasn't everyday a person met a six foot lizard.

"Allow me to say how appreciative I am of this opportunity to work with you," Mr. Kincaid began. "I understand that there have been a few problems with my predecessors. I sincerely hope that whatever those problems might have been we can move past them and come to a viable working relationship."

"Mole?" Alec said. He had to lean forward around Max to see him sitting on her other side.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna translate?" Alec asked.

"He says he's sorry the other guys were morons. He's gonna try to do better."

Alec nodded. "Good to know. Go ahead, Mr. Kincaid."

Max saw that Gordon was trying very hard not to smile, while Kincaid was frowning trying to figure out exactly how he'd gone wrong only one sentence into the meeting. He clearly did not appreciate being the butt of anyone's joke.

"Let me save you some time, Mr. Kincaid," Max said, stepping in before the situation could get out of hand. Alec was still pissed about the intel they'd received on the botched job, about the trigger-happy guard outside and now about having to deal with yet another political type with a stick up his ass. Max was completely on board with that, but they didn't need another disaster to deal with. "We're not politicians and we suck as the social graces, so there's no need to worry about watching what you say and how you say it. We also don't need to know your credentials. As soon as you came through the gates we had your picture. By the time we're done with this meeting, our people will know more about you than you probably do."

"I beg your pardon." The man bristled.

"We don't care about the niceties or being polite or getting to know you. We're not gonna throw a cocktail party, or have a company picnic and invite the wife and kids. We're here to do a job and we don't care how you pretty it up. So whatever you need, just tell us like it is, and we'll all get along just fine, ok?"

"I see," Kincaid said dryly.

Alec settled a hand on her thigh, giving her a gentle squeeze, and Max felt a zing of anticipation shoot from the point of contact down to her toes and all the way up to the tips her hair. Alec loved watching her in action and no doubt he would show her his appreciation later.

"Well, then," Kincaid said, "let's get to business."

"Sure." Max said forward in her chair as the man pulled out a large manila folder. Mole did the same, and Alec as well. He withdrew his hand and Max felt the loss of his warm reassurance, but focused on the business at hand.

Kincaid pushed the folder toward her and Max pulled it closer. She flipped it open to see several photos of a well-dressed, middle-aged man she didn't recognize. There were lots of other papers, but for the moment she just saw the pictures. There were several of him getting in and out of cars, one where he was standing beside a woman who looked to be his wife, and another where he was walking beside a pair of teenagers who looked enough like him that she supposed they were his children.

"What is it you want us to do?" Alec asked, looking over Max's shoulder at the pictures.

Kincaid looked at them, his face expressionless. "We want you to kill him."

* * *

_How's that? More soon..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Dogs of War**

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing.

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA. Sequel to _Loose the Hounds_.

_So Kincaid wants them to kill someone..._

Chapter Two

* * *

The room was deathly still for ten long seconds. Alec could feel his blood pounding through his veins. The room was a red haze.

"Max? Mole? Let's go." He stood and was gratified to see the other two doing the same.

"What's going on?" Kincaid demanded.

"We're leaving," Max snapped. "That's what's going on."

"But… I don't…"

"Not another word," Mole snarled. "Your security people will escort you out. Don't come back."

"Stop!" Secretary Gordon said. "Please."

Alec swung around, still furious. "You came here to find an assassin?" he asked angrily. "We agreed to help you with missions that might be too difficult or too sensitive for a regular operative. You do not come to us to buy a killer."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Kincaid said coldly.

Alec stepped closer to the table and Max jumped in front of him, facing him, both hands planted firmly on his chest to keep him from crossing the space. He looked down at her and instantly the fight left him. Max's face was impassive, but her eyes begged him to keep his cool no matter how badly he wanted to smash the liaison's face in. She pled with him to remember who he was; a transgenic, but no longer a killer. Alec smirked down at her and although her face showed no difference, her tension-filled, worried eyes slowly relaxed.

"I thought I told you two to knock that crap off. It freaks everybody out," Mole grumbled.

It brought a grin to Alec's face and Max mirrored it. It wasn't telepathy. It was two people who were close enough and spent enough time together, that when it mattered words weren't necessary. They were two halves of a whole. Granted, they spent a good part of their time bickering, but even that was two people who were so evenly matched that it was as much fun bickering as it was getting along.

Alec set his hand over Max's and brought it up, placing a light kiss against the ring circling the fourth finger of her left hand. It was a plain gold band that matched the one he wore, one that he had given to her with every promise a man in his position could give.

As he had warned her after the riot, city hall was off limits. Not that it had really mattered. The government had given them Terminal City legally, but they were still working on the legal status of cloned soldiers with a bit too much of the animal kingdom built in. Non-citizens/non-humans didn't get marriage certificates.

That fact had left them to their own devices, which seemed to be about par for the course. The animal kingdom had all kinds of weird mating rituals, but they weren't animals. They were people and in front of all Terminal City, Alec had made his promises to Max. It was as binding, as permanent as any vow made in front of a justice of the peace. It made sure that everyone knew they were both off limits, but it also made sure that they were both certain of the other, that they were in this for the long haul. They were a team, together, husband and wife in every way that mattered. The genuine _stability_ of it was breathtaking. Neither of them had ever had anything permanent. To know that this woman had chosen him, and only him, for the rest of their lives was a salve to his damaged soul.

That and Max was hot. He wasn't an idiot.

Max's eyes narrowed and for a second Alec thought she just might be psychic. He winked at her and then looked up to face the two men. All of his pleasant feelings abruptly faded again. Max stepped to his side, although she kept her fingers twined with his. He knew she was purposely doing it to once again restrict his movements.

"Gentleman," Max said straightly, "let me make this clear. We left the bosses who liked to send kids on assassination assignments. We don't want new ones. We didn't have an option then, but we do now and we say no."

Alec clutched her hand tightly, part reassurance, part anger that she needed to explain something that should have been obvious. "We're done here," Alec stated flatly. "You're on your own from now on."

"You admit you've carried out assassinations before," Kincaid said icily. "What's one more? This needs to be done. It is imperative for national security."

Disgusted, Mole actually strode to the door, threw it open and stomped out past all of the guards who quickly jumped to attention.

"Have you ever been forced to kill someone in cold blood, Mr. Kincaid?" Alec asked. Faces, dozens of them, flashed in front of his eyes, good guys, bad guys, friends, acquaintances, complete strangers. He knew some of them didn't really deserve any pity, but some… some had been innocent and their blood was on his hands.

Kincaid shook his head. "No."

"Then don't ask 'What's one more'." Alec tugged on Max's hand and they headed toward the door.

"Alec, stop," Gordon said again.

"Don't bother. I expected better from you," Alec said.

Then it struck him. He did expect better of Gordon. They'd dealt with him quite a few times over the past months trying to get the legalities in place of owning Terminal City as well as setting up the new system for handling work the government brought to them. They'd also had to deal with him due to the ongoing failures with the previous liaisons he'd put in place. Gordon had been a consistently reasonable person to work with. Even when they'd disagreed, he'd been respectful about it, and had appreciated their qualms about working with the government again.

Alec turned back toward Secretary Gordon and Kincaid. When he stopped, Max did as well. She squeezed his hand tightly enough to break it if he'd been human, afraid he was going to go after them again. Instead, Alec relaxed his stance, going for a breezy, unconcerned look.

"This was a test," he said, his smirk firmly in place.

Max stepped up beside him. "What?"

"Fred, close the door," Alec called over his shoulder. "Send somebody to get Mole… On second thought, don't. He'll be even more pissed when he finds out they were screwing around with us."

"Yes, sir," the guard answered, actual worry in his tone this time, and closed the door.

Alec eyed the two men opposite him. "If you wanted to know about the problems with the last mission, all you had to do was ask."

This time Max took a step forward, angry, and Alec was the one who had to hold her back. "You did this just to see if we would?" she snapped.

"This is the second job you've been given where the contact ended up dead," Kincaid shot back. "You'll forgive us for thinking there might be a problem."

"You think we don't know there's a problem?" she said through clenched teeth. "Of course, there's a freaking problem. We've sent our people out on two missions and they've done the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do. "

"The operative we sent on this last mission is one of our most trusted people," Alec supplied. "The team that went with him is bringing him in, but we know there's a problem, so until we talk to him, we're holding all operations."

"Even the work we've been doing in the private sector has been put on hold until we know what's going on," Max added. "Everyone's been ordered home. Our last people are coming in now."

Silence fell over the room. Kincaid was still eyeing them distrustfully and the feeling was mutual. Alec didn't appreciate this man trying to mess with them only minutes after being introduced. Gordon was looking more and more uncomfortable the longer they stood there. Alec maintained his relaxed stance, and Max continued to glare.

"Shall we sit?" Secretary Gordon finally suggested.

"You guys pull anything like that again, and you'll be out on your ass," Max stated plainly. "Understand?"

Kincaid nodded and sat back at the table. Gordon sat as well, and after several seconds Max and Alec followed suit.

"So, do you want to tell us what you know?" Secretary Gordon started, his tone conciliatory, but firm.

"On the first op, we know that Fig got to the site and met with the contact who was supposed to turn over the files," Alec explained. "We know from the surveillance video that he shot the contact and burned the file. He left the complex and we haven't seen or heard from him since."

"A traitor. Or he was bought off by someone else," Kincaid suggested. "He probably had no intention of coming back."

Alec let out a disbelieving huff. "I'm pretty sure his wife would break your legs for even suggesting that. I can introduce you on the way out if you like."

"We were in contact with him right up until the meet, and everything was going like clockwork," Max explained. "From the video it looks like he got a phone call, and then he just killed his contact."

"Have you been able to trace the call?" Kincaid asked.

Alec snapped his fingers. "Now why didn't we think of that, Max?"

"Dead end," Max said, ignoring his snide remark. "We're still gathering intel on this second mission. We just don't know yet. From the preliminary info, it looks like it might be the same thing. A phone call, and our man went off the reservation. His team managed to subdue him. We'll know more when they bring him in."

"You'll keep us apprised?" Kincaid asked, his tone saying this was not optional.

"We don't answer to you," Max said frostily. "Don't start thinking you have any say in how we operate."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Alec had to suppress the urge to grin. They'd already been through one liaison who had thought he was going to be the human dictator in charge of the poor, improperly socialized transgenic children. Alec had enjoyed watching Max cut him down to size. He would be more than happy to watch her do it again.

Kincaid's eyes narrowed. "Listen-"

"We botched a paying job for you," Alec cut him off, although he kept his tone light. "We already got the info you needed from the first mission." He shrugged as if it had been the easiest thing in the world, instead of a massive scramble for damage control. "We'll do the same for the one last night and pass the information along through the appropriate channels. Other than that, this is an internal investigation."

"If you don't like how we operate, feel free to walk away," Max said angrily.

"We're a business. You don't have to use us," Alec added evenly. They were playing the good cop, bad cop roles they'd honed to a fine point, or more like bad cop, slightly less bad cop. Alec got to make fun of them, while Max did most of the angry sniping.

"You know what?" Max shifted her glare from one of the men opposite to the other. "Find someone else to handle the work. Honestly, we're doing just fine with our civilian stuff."

Kincaid opened his mouth to say something else, but Gordon stopped him with a small wave of his hand. "Feeling a little overdramatic today, Max?"

"Please, don't piss her off any more than she already is," Alec pleaded. "You guys get to leave, but I have to live with her."

Max elbowed him in the ribs, a less than gentle jab. "Shut up."

"I'm sorry we upset you," Secretary Gordon said, his tone placating. "We're not cancelling our arrangement," he paused for effect, "_yet_. But you can see how we have concerns. If this happens again, our agreement may come to an abrupt end."

Max paused, her full lips pursed, but finally she nodded. "Trust us. We're far more motivated than you are to figure out what's going on. We've lost one operative, and another is being brought in under guard. They're both good men, men we trust."

They all fell silent again, unsure of what else to say. Basically, the government was an unhappy customer and they'd come to complain to the manager, but unfortunately, Freak, Inc., as they'd come to call it, was the only company of its kind and unhappy or not, the government didn't have anyone else to turn to.

"Is this file real?" Alec asked, tapping the folder in front of him that had started all of the mess.

Kincaid cleared his throat, trying to switch gears again. Alec guessed he wasn't used to being gainsaid, especially not by a couple of kids. "Yes, it's real," Kincaid answered. "He's highly placed in the United Nations. There are more details in the file. We believe he's been passing sensitive information to the highest bidder. We need to know what kind of information and who he's been selling it to."

"Should be easy enough, once we get this other mess sorted out."

"Unfortunately, we don't have time for that. We need to know the extent of the damage and then we need him brought in. We can't go through the normal channels, because we don't know exactly where he's been getting his information from in the first place. We believe he must have several accomplices in other branches of government."

"What kind of time frame are we looking at here?" Max asked.

"He has a plane ticket to leave the country on Saturday," Kincaid replied with a frown.

"Crap. Five days."

"That's barely enough time to do anything with a situation that could be massively complex," Alec muttered incredulously.

"We'll look at the file and see what we can do," Max said. He could tell she wasn't happy, but they didn't really have a choice.

Alec's cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello?"

"_It's Mole_."

"We're still in the meeting. Kincaid says he's sorry you left so fast. He knows you're gonna be buddies."

"_Get back to Command. Now_," the transhuman snarled.

"Sure, we're just wrapping it up here." Alec kept his voice composed, although he could tell just from Mole's voice that the crap had hit the fan. Again. "We'll be there in a minute to fill you in."

He closed his phone and tucked it back in his pocket. "Are we done here?" he asked. "Mole's still pissed and he's going to be until we get back and explain what's going on. He's probably gathering the troops to run you out of town, and we need to head him off."

"Look at the file," Kincaid said, "and then we can talk again."

Alec stood and Max matched him. She'd heard both sides of the phone conversation and knew they needed to leave. She nodded to the two men and headed for the door. "We'll be in touch."

Ever the slightly less bad cop, Alec leaned across the table and shook Secretary Gordon's hand. "It's never boring when you show up," he said with a smirk.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" the man asked.

"Yes," Alec answered with a more genuine smile. He turned his eyes toward Kincaid, but did not extend his hand. "You've got one strike, Kincaid. Be careful. We're pretty, but we don't mind getting dirty."

Kincaid cast him a shrewd glance. "Is that a threat?"

Alec gave a short chuckle. "An observation."

"Alec," Max snapped. "Quit talking."

"Duty calls." He nodded once again to Secretary Gordon, then hurried after Max who was already heading down the corridor. Alec pulled his phone from his pocket again and dialed Command. "Mole, what's going on?"

"_You_ _know the team we had working security for the mayor's cabinet meeting_?"

Alec had to grit his teeth. "Yeah."

"_One of 'em tried to kill the mayor_."

* * *

_Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans in the bunch. I might get a chapter posted tomorrow, or I might be in a turkey-induced coma. Never can tell. More soon..._


	3. Chapter 3

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA. Sequel to _Loose the Hounds_.

_More problems for Max and Alec today..._

Chapter Three

* * *

"Status report," Max barked as she came through the door to Command. The tension level, which had already been pretty high when they left, appeared to have hit the roof.

"Whip went psycho." Mole didn't look at them as he spoke, just kept studying the various TV screens. "We've got a complete cluster on our hands."

Max walked closer to the main bank of video and radio equipment. There was enough chatter coming through the police bands that even she had trouble distinguishing all of the different traffic.

"I thought everyone had been ordered home," Alec said, sounding displeased.

"The team was already at the mayor's meeting when the order went out," Mole explained. "They were told to get their asses back here as soon as the meeting was over."

"So what happened?" Max demanded. There was a fresh burst of chatter on the radio that momentarily drowned out any conversation.

"Whip and Nanny were on the door outside the meeting. Whip got a phone call, and then she just turned around, pulled a gun and opened the door. Bing and Charlie were inside. They saw her coming in and tried to subdue her. She managed to knock Bing and Nanny out and Charlie says he had to break her arm to get her to drop the gun."

"She kill anyone?" Max asked, afraid of the answer. "Or hurt any of the mayor's people?"

"No," Mole answered, clearly relieved, "but now she's tearing all over the city."

"Doing what?" Alec asked, just as another burst of noise came from the radio.

Mole pulled out a map and laid it flat on the table. Max stepped up and Alec stood beside her, a warm hand set against the small of her back, his fingers stroking in a constant, soothing circle.

No matter how many times he touched her, how many times he kissed her, how many times he simply looked at her with that knowing look in his eyes, it never ceased to amaze her. She was such a broken, emotionally messed up almost-human, and Alec was just as broken, just as messed up, maybe more so, but despite all that, they'd still found each other. Neither of them was great at the sharing-and-caring, talking-through-their-issues thing, but they managed to muddle through, together.

Now that they were a couple she understood even more how much he hid from the world. During the day he was Alec, the same easy-going, fun-loving, occasionally lazy guy that she'd always known, although there was a definite steadiness about him these days. He had too many people depending on him to be otherwise. He had to be a leader the others were willing to follow, and the Manticore-trained soldier had made a slow reappearance, although still with a healthy dose of "her" Alec still present.

During the night, however, when they were alone, she could see how much of his "I'm always all right" was a complete lie. Max didn't sleep because of her DNA, but Alec often had trouble sleeping as well. He never said anything. Just sometimes she would find him awake and staring at the ceiling although she had no doubt he was seeing other, older scenes playing before his eyes. Sometimes, it was worse and although he was sleeping he was just as troubled. That was perhaps harder for her to watch because Alec had no defenses when he slept. He wasn't aware enough to hide anything.

By the time they left their apartment each morning, Alec always had his game face on. Some mornings it just took a little longer than others for them to decide it was time to leave. Max didn't rush him on those days, and they never talked about it. She let him go at his own pace, until he was ready to face the world. She had a sneaking suspicion that there were mornings he did the same for her.

Mole started pointing to different spots on the map that were marked as police checkpoints. "We know she's already blown through three of these. She hasn't killed anyone that we know of, but there are definitely injured."

"What's she doing?" Max stared at the map as if it would cough up the answer if she glared at it long enough.

Alec's hand tightened around her, anchoring himself to her. "She's trying to get out of the city." He moved a finger along the map to show her where Whip would be heading. "That's what I would guess anyway. The route she's taking is through the less heavily fortified checkpoints."

"Guys, they've got her on the hover-drones!" Dix called.

Everyone in command moved so that they could see the screens. Dix had hacked into them weeks ago so that they could get live footage whenever they needed it without having to wait on the news people to pick it up.

"Where is she?" Max asked.

No one answered as the events unfolded in front of them in just a matter of seconds. Whip was approaching the checkpoint which was on high alert because of the other checkpoint breaches. The second the sector police saw her, they opened fire. There was no, "Halt. Police," no questions, nothing at all. They just shot her. It was over almost as soon as it started. Whip was probably dead before she even hit the pavement. Dix just leaned over and turned down the police scanners. They didn't need to hear any more. There was nothing else they could do for Whip.

Alec released Max and twisted away from the screens. She turned toward him and saw his jaw clench and his hands form into fists, the picture of silent fury. Her gut reaction was raging jealousy that Whip was probably an old girlfriend. Something, however, told her this was more than that.

Max stepped up to his side and cautiously set a hand on his arm. "You knew her?"

Alec just nodded. He was very still for several more seconds. He then dragged in a breath and let it out slowly. He shrugged the tension from his shoulders, purposely blanked his expression and turned back toward her and the others. Max knew he didn't want them to see how upset he was, and couldn't fault him for it. They both had to keep up appearances in their positions. It was only when they were alone that they could lower their walls, even if only a little bit.

"I want to talk to Nanny," Alec stated firmly. "Are they back yet?"

"Negative," Mole answered. "They've been detained for questioning."

For just a moment Alec looked like he was about to go ballistic, but he quickly stifled it. "They gonna be arrested?"

"Don't know." Mole chewed on his cigar in frustration. "We don't think so. Our guy at the PD says that'd be hard since they're the ones who kept the mayor from being shot. They'll keep their mouths shut and once they're released they'll get back here and we can figure out what's going on."

Max gritted her teeth. This situation just kept getting worse and worse and they had no clue why. Their people, transgenics they knew and _trusted_, were getting these calls, and in a matter of seconds they went completely nuts and started killing. She'd snapped at Gordon and Kincaid, but the truth was that they were right to be worried. This was bad, very, very bad.

The problem was that until they figured out what was up there was nothing for her to do but stand around and be pissed. Thankfully, she'd had lots of practice at that over the years.

"Max?"

She looked up toward Dix. "Yeah?"

"The team is bringing Mink in," he said. "Where do you want him?"

"I want him in here. Right now," she said. Maybe now they could get a few answers. Mink had completely screwed the mission the night before. His contact was dead and his own team had been forced to take him down and drag him back home.

"On it." Dix turned back to the radios and spoke lowly.

There was nothing else to do but wait. Alec stood still, leaning against the table with the map on it, his arms crossed, looking deceptively relaxed. Max, on the other hand, couldn't care less if she looked tense. She was tense. She was frustrated, pissed, and she wanted some answers and she was going to pace back and forth until she got some.

In only a couple of minutes, they heard a commotion outside the doors. Two of Mink's team members appeared first, both definitely looking worse for wear. Behind them, Mink followed, cuffed and struggling for all he was worth to get free. The only thing keeping him from managing it was the fact that there were two other transgenics holding him who were just as strong.

Alec uncrossed his arms and stepped toward the struggling man. "Mink?"

"Let me go!" the man shouted.

"Can't do that, Mink," Max said, stepping up beside Alec. "We need to know what happened last night."

The man's eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "I followed orders. Not that someone like you would understand anything about that."

Max frowned in confusion. "What?"

"I'm not a traitor, 452," he sneered. "I know my job."

"Mink, you screwed up the mission," Alec snapped. "How is that doing your job?"

"I follow mission parameters and I do my duty."

Max opened her mouth to speak, but Alec waved a hand to stop her. "State your designation."

"X5-486."

Alec pursed his lips, although he nodded as if that was what he'd expected the answer to be. "Who gave you your orders?"

"I can't tell you that, 494. You've obviously been compromised."

Max sucked a breath in through her teeth. The hits just kept on coming. "What is this? A Manticore meltdown?"

"I don't think so," Alec answered, his eyes still intent on Mink.

Max turned toward the rest of the team. "Has he said anything to the rest of you?"

They all shook their heads. "This is the most he's said since it happened," the transgenic closest to Max replied. He was a short guy, but all muscle, and he was still having to work to hold his prisoner. "He's made a couple of good escape attempts, too. My shoulder's still out of commission from the last one."

Without warning, Mink twisted and punched one of his captors in the face. He'd managed to get out of his cuffs somehow, and he wasn't wasting a second of his moment of surprise. He twisted the other way and slammed his fist into the face of the X5 holding his other arm. As he fell, Mink grabbed the gun from his teammate's waistband and immediately raised it, pointing it directly at Max.

Max dove to the side, barely fast enough to escape the shot that was aimed straight for her heart. She didn't avoid it completely and felt fire slice across her shoulder. She landed hard on the floor and rolled to the side, trying to get out of the line of fire, but also to see where the danger was now. She doubted Mink was just going to stand still.

Max heard another shot ring out and then the entire room fell silent. She looked up and saw that Mink was on the ground, bleeding, although from where Max couldn't see. Alec stood over him with gun in hand, ready to fire again, just daring the downed man to move.

"Get him out of here," Alec ordered. "And make sure he's properly secured this time or you'll answer to me."

Mink's team hustled to comply. They trussed him up like a turkey and dragged him out of Command. Alec was rarely angry, but nobody liked dealing with him when that dam finally broke. Max getting hurt was about as pissed as it was possible for him to be, and no one wanted to be responsible for letting that happen.

Max blinked and Alec was at her side. His jaw was clenched so tightly it had to hurt and he wasn't looking directly at her. Instead he was concentrating on her shoulder, putting direct pressure on the slice like it was a life-threatening wound instead of the scrape that it was.

"You ok?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she said lightly. "Just a nick."

"He could have killed you." Finally, he met her gaze and the look in his eyes took her breath away. She saw worry, anger, and barely suppressed panic. He could hide his expression, could wear a mask like few others could match, but he couldn't hide those eyes from her.

She shrugged her uninjured shoulder. "But he didn't. Just one of our daily near death experiences. I kinda figured you'd be used to them by now."

"Oh, I'm used to them." He slapped a relaxed devil-may-care smirk on, but it didn't fool her for a second. "Doesn't mean I have to like 'em. Especially when you're not getting any better at getting out of the way."

"I beg your pardon?" She gave him a glare worthy of that comment.

"You should. Gonna have to give you a refresher course in dodging bullets."

"Says the guy who can't duck to save his life." She poked his twice-wounded shoulder. "You're gonna have to get somebody else to teach that class, buddy."

"Hey, guys?"

Max and Alec both looked up at the sound of Dix's anxious voice. Luke was sitting beside him and the two were both staring at their computer screens unhappily. Whatever it was, Max knew they weren't going to like it.

"What's up?" Alec called.

"We've got another problem."

Alec leaned his forehead against Max's and sighed tiredly. "Of course we do."

* * *

_Gotta go to work... More soon as my boss lets me go..._


	4. Chapter 4

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA. Sequel to _Loose the Hounds_.

_Enough setup. Let's get this show on the road!_

Chapter Four

* * *

"What now?" Max muttered.

"Luke, Dix… I'm pretty sure I told you we didn't need any more problems today," Alec said, his tone almost singsong.

"Sorry, Alec. They just seem to keep piling on," Dix answered.

Luke turned in his seat so he could look at them both. "Ever since the new liaison came in we've been doing our usual background check. Logan's been helping, too."

"Logan?" Alec said casually, although Max knew just how un-casual his feelings were about Logan. For someone so seemingly smug, so certain of his abilities, and so aware of her at any given time or place, he still wasn't entirely certain of her feelings whenever Logan was mentioned. It was her own fault for spending so long waffling. Alec was afraid that one day she'd waffle with him as well. Idiot.

Dix helpfully pointed to the screen where Logan's camera feed was coming through. "He's been going through all of his files, too. We just got a little sidetracked when Whip… when she…" Dix looked genuinely upset and Max was reminded that they weren't all hardened assassins at Manticore.

Luke cleared his throat. "We were looking at Kincaid's history and something just wasn't feeling right so we asked Logan to take a look as well."

"Hey, Logan," Max said, making sure to step closer to the camera so she would be in view.

"Hey, Max." He pointed at her injured shoulder. "Are you all right?"

She waved away his concern. "Just a scratch."

"I heard the shots," he commented, unconvinced.

"I took care of it," Alec said, moving up beside Max. "He won't hurt her again."

"You killed him?" Logan asked wide-eyed.

Alec smirked, although Max could feel the tension in the muscles as he wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her closer, hip to hip. "Nah. We need a few answers first. Don't worry. I'll be sure to horrify you with stories of my inhumane treatment of him later."

"Alec," Max said, trying to cut off the territory-marking before it really got started.

He gave her a look that was both mildly chastised and yet totally unrepentant. She never was sure how he managed it. It was probably genetic. He'd been crossed with a jackass. Or a smartass.

"So what's up, guys?" Max tried to get them back on task.

Logan resettled himself in his chair, getting his I'm-a-grown-up face back on. "We've been going through everything we can find on this guy and almost everything looks entirely on the up and up."

"I'd assume so or they wouldn't have let him get this far, or this close to Secretary Gordon," Max offered. "I'm sure they did their own background checks."

"But they don't know what we know." Luke's voice was grave. Not that the transhuman was every really a barrel of laughs.

"What do we know?" Alec asked.

"Take a look at this." Dix pointed to one of the screens. "Logan remembered seeing this guy before, but he couldn't remember where. We've been working on developing this facial recognition software and this gave us a chance to try it out. We've gone through all of the pictures in his database and everywhere else we could find to look and we found this."

It was a less than stellar picture of two men sitting at a table, but Max couldn't actually be sure who either of them was. She assumed the one on the left was Kincaid although if she hadn't been looking for it, she might not have seen the resemblance.

"Help us out here. What are we looking at?" Alec asked, clearly getting no further than she had.

"The man on the left is Kincaid," Logan explained. "The man on the right is a known member of White's cult."

Alec sighed. He turned slightly and dropped his forehead to rest on Max's good shoulder. "Well, that's just perfect," he muttered. "Max, is it too late to just go hide out in Iowa?"

"You'd get bored and you know it," she responded affectionately, briefly leaning her head against his. She then shrugged him off. "Now stop being a crybaby and help me think."

"Sweet talker."

Max glanced toward the screen where Logan was still watching. He looked green and quickly averted his eyes. The people in Command were used to her and Alec being together, but she really did try not to rub Logan's nose in it. She coughed to get his attention. "Maybe Kincaid doesn't know the guy is a cult member?" Max said hopefully. "The cult could have been trying to influence a politician. Wouldn't be the first time."

"This is a still from surveillance camera video," Logan said, his voice letting her know just how unhappy he was, although she wasn't sure if it was with Kincaid or with her.

Either way, Max chose to ignore it. "So what else is on the video?"

"They're both turned so we can't see what they're saying," Logan said. "All except for the very first part. Show them, Dix."

Dix did as he was asked. They watched as Kincaid, who was already seated at the table, stood up as the second man approached. They shook hands and the newcomer said one phrase before both men turned slightly so their mouths weren't quite visible.

"Anybody a lip reader?" Dix asked the room at large.

"_Fe'nos tol_," Alec stated coldly. "He's not a lobbyist coming to talk to a politician."

Max sighed, thinking that maybe Alec's Iowa idea wasn't so bad after all. "So what does this mean?"

"It means Secretary Gordon couldn't pick a decent liaison for us if his life depended on it," Mole growled.

"Why would Kincaid want the job?" Logan asked. "They want you exterminated. Why would he pose as someone recruiting you for government missions?"

"Well, our last few missions have gone completely wrong," Alec remarked. "If he had something to do with it, maybe he's just trying to undermine our work. Confine us in our cage again."

"The other two jobs went bad before we met him," Max countered.

"We knew someone was in the works. Maybe he had a hand in them?" His eyebrows rose in question.

Max frowned. They just didn't know. They were going to have to do a more thorough investigation of his movements in the past couple of weeks leading up to the jobs going down the tubes.

"Question is what do we do about it?" Mole demanded.

"We don't do anything," Max answered. She looked to Alec and saw that he was nodding. "We watch him. We follow him. We figure out what he's really up to."

"We can start by looking into the file he brought us," Alec said, his tone saying he was thinking out loud.

"Maybe it's legit, maybe it isn't," Max added.

"I say we kill Kincaid and figure all that out later," Mole stated flatly.

Alec's lips twisted in chagrin. "Tempting, but on the off chance we need some information then he's no good to us dead. Maybe this new job is a trap and they've arranged it so we'll mess up big-time and the government will come down on us like a ton of bricks."

"Or maybe this guy in the file knows too much," Max suggested. "Kincaid could have made all that other stuff up just to get us to take care of it for him."

"How very... Manticore," Alec said with a smirk.

Max shrugged and winced as it pulled at the bullet wound to her shoulder. Alec scowled and started to pull her away. "You guys keep looking. I'm gonna patch Max up."

He drew her away from the main console and directed her to a chair, she had no doubt, making sure they were out of the line of sight of Logan's camera. Unceremoniously, Alec pulled Max's shirt off over her head, leaving her in just a tank. "Kit," Alec said tersely, and as if out of thin air a transgenic Max barely recognized appeared at Alec's side. He held out a first aid kit and Alec accepted it. "Thanks, Zip."

"Sir." He was their age, maybe a little younger. He still had the military haircut. Most of them had abandoned it, but not this guy, and as he walked away from them, it was nearly a march.

"Don't stare at him," Alec said under his breath.

"What?"

"He doesn't like it."

"Does anybody?"

"No, but he's the one who will tear your arms off for it."

"Temper problem?" Max inquired.

Alec smirked. "Let's just say he's a little... sensitive."

He began cleaning the slice across her shoulder and Max hissed. "Watch it. He's not the only one who's sensitive."

"I could kiss it, make it better," he replied coyly.

Despite how badly her shoulder hurt while he worked, a zing of awareness shot up her spine at Alec's proximity as well as the promise in his voice. "You could, huh?"

Alec chuckled. "Well, it'd definitely make _me_ feel better."

She raised an eyebrow. "Since when do bullet wounds lead to sex?"

"Since we were raised by Manticore and have some seriously bizarre kinks?" he tried.

"Get a room!" Mole snarled from across the room. "We've all got freak super-hearing and you two are about to make us all throw up."

Alec finished taping a piece of gauze over the wound and looked up, his gaze scanning around the room at all the snickering, grinning, sneering faces. "All right, kiddies, gather round." He waved his hands as if to urge them nearer, all the while smiling beatifically. "Mommy and Daddy think it's time we explained the birds and bees to you."

Mole let out a string of swearing that was enough to make dock workers blush.

"Language, Mole," Alec chided sweetly. "Not in front of the ladies."

"Show me a lady in this room and I'll watch my manners."

Alec snorted. "And you wonder why you can't get a date."

"Hey? Idiots?" Max interrupted.

Alec cocked his head to one side. "Does she mean us?"

"Pretty sure," Mole grunted in return.

"Great. You got me in trouble. Thanks, Mole."

Max rolled her eyes. "We've still got one question even if we put Kincaid under surveillance. We need to know what to tell Gordon."

"Why do we need to tell him anything?" Mole asked testily. "He's the one who keeps picking these morons. It just turns out this time he picked a certified wackjob instead of just a moron."

"Alec?" Max turned toward him wanting his opinion.

"We should at least feel him out." He crossed his arms, his expression thoughtful. "Maybe we don't know him as well as we thought. Maybe Gordon knew exactly who he was hiring."

"Max?" It was Logan's voice and everyone turned toward the radios. Max walked that way so she could talk to him face to face, but she noticed Alec didn't follow. He had apparently hit his high limit on interaction with Logan for the day.

"Got an idea?" she asked.

"Actually, I think I might be able to help."

Even to Max's ears he sounded happy about it. He hadn't been around much since the riot and the fallout from it, and he appeared eager to work his way back into her good graces.

"How?"

"I have a lunch date with Secretary Gordon in a few days. I can talk to him, see what he knows, maybe give him a heads up if it seems like a good idea."

Max didn't accept the offer out of hand. Any contact with Secretary Gordon could directly influence any future dealings with the government and any jobs that were given to them. They were private contractors and the government didn't have to deal with them at all. That was why these screwed-up missions were so dangerous. The government could decide that despite the advantages, transgenics were too much trouble to deal with and just never hire them again.

"Freak, Inc." wasn't just something for a bunch of ex-Manticore kids to do in their off time. This was their livelihood. They had a city full of transgenics to feed, clothe, shelter and keep as comfortable and amused as possible in their little enclave. Stealing things from the ordinaries was no longer acceptable now that they were property owners and supposedly gainfully employed. More importantly, Terminal City had too many of transgenics for the nearly destitute population of Seattle to support.

They were doing all right from the jobs the civilians were asking them to do. Some of the companies, as soon as they knew the "Freaks" were open for business, had been practically standing on their doorstep with work. Even a few wealthier individuals had come to them for more mundane tasks like seeing if their spouse was cheating, or seeing if an employee was scamming them somehow. The government jobs, however, were some of the biggest moneymakers and while they wouldn't starve without them, they were a definite plus in the bookkeeping department.

"Talk to Gordon," Max said, coming to a decision, "but be careful. We need him on our side. Unless he's already on the other side, and we need to know that, too."

"No problem." Logan smiled, clearly pleased to be back in the game.

Max heard a cell phone ring behind her and turned. Alec pulled his phone out of his pocket and brought it to his ear. "Hello?" He nodded several times. "Yes. Ok."

Alec closed his phone and tucked it back into his pocket. He then reached behind him and pulled the gun from his waistband. He aimed it at Max and fired.

* * *

_Sunday afternoon nap tomorrow... Probably Monday for a new chapter unless motivation strikes... More soon!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Dogs of War**

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing.

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA.

_So… Things had just gone from bad to worse…_

Chapter Five

* * *

Max felt like she'd been punched, dead-center, in the chest. For a moment the entire world was still and silent. She just looked at Alec. He was still aiming the gun at her, his face a blank mask of indifference.

She'd jumped out of the way when Mink tried to shoot her. It had been instinct. The gun was aiming in her direction and she'd leapt to safety. But not this time. Not Alec. Alec wouldn't hurt her. Alec wouldn't aim a gun at her. He wouldn't shoot her. No matter what.

Max fell to her knees as the pain spread through her chest, radiating outward. Breathing was suddenly difficult. The blood was rushing in her ears, rushing out from her chest, staining her clothes.

He'd shot her. Alec had _shot_ her.

It... it wasn't possible.

"Alec?"

For a second, maybe not even that long she saw a look of sheer terror in his eyes, but then it was gone just as quickly and she thought maybe she'd imagined it. He didn't look terrified. He didn't look like anything. He was blank. If anything, she thought he was going to fire again. Double tap, just like Manticore always taught them. Make sure your target is down.

Suddenly, someone barreled into Alec, knocking him to the floor and sending the gun skidding out of his hand. Someone else, Luke maybe, picked it up and aimed it at the two struggling men. More transgenics joined the fray, and although she couldn't seem to hear anything past the rushing blood in her ears, she knew the sounds of a fight, could imagine the grunting and the wet smacking sounds of punches being landed.

Alec was magnificent. He'd always been impressive in a fight and this time was no exception. Alec fought like a man possessed. No matter how many opponents arrived to face him, he refused to give in. He fought his way off the floor, then fought his way through any man or woman who got between him and the door. He was leaving and no one was going to stop him.

He was leaving.

Alec couldn't leave. She'd been shot. Didn't he know that? Didn't he want to stay with her? Didn't he _need_ to stay with her?

"Alec?" she said again helplessly, as if she could somehow call him back, even though she could see that he was gone now. There were other transgenics littering the floor. They began to stir, but Alec was already gone. She tried to guess how long it would take him to get to the gates, if he would even use the gates. It would probably be easier to use the underground tunnels they'd built after the city closed up all the others. He could travel long distances in the sewer system without running into trouble.

Where was he going? Max needed to know. She'd have to know where to find him. Alec was better at escape-and-evade than Whip. He would work his way around the sector police. He wouldn't charge at them head on. He knew they would just shoot him down and he'd never get where he was going.

"Somebody get some pressure on that wound!" she heard Mole bellow.

Max realized she was looking at the ceiling. She must've toppled over at some point, although she didn't remember doing it. Her chest was a mass of pain. Everything hurt. That was really all she could think about at the moment. That and Alec.

Alec was gone. She needed him.

"Alec," she said again hopelessly.

"He already skipped," someone said.

Max opened her eyes. She hadn't realized she'd closed them. A man was leaning over her. His hands were pressed to her chest, trying to slow the bleeding. She tried to remember his name. Slick. Alec called him Slick because he could get them through any door known to man and, after catching him already in the process of breaking into a warehouse they were about to break into, Alec had quickly put him on his team for supply runs. He was too young to be doing any of this, or maybe Max was just getting too old. At least she felt too old. Half the people she sent out in the field looked like twelve year olds to her. Granted, they had a large population of twelve year olds who knew twenty different ways to kill a person using an ink pen, but that was beside the point.

"Just hold on, Max. We're gonna get you to the hospital as soon as we can, ok. Just hold on," Slick said. He had long, floppy hair and big sad eyes. Max wondered if he had more canine than feline DNA. It was no wonder Alec had added him to his team. It would be like kicking a poor, lost puppy to tell the kid he couldn't come along.

"Hospital?" Max asked.

"We've got a car coming around and we're gonna call ahead. Dr. Carr will be waiting."

Max nodded. They didn't really have anyone in TC who could deal with something this serious. Manticore had given basic field med training, but all of the real medical issues were handled by Manticore's doctors. They couldn't let their creations know too much, just enough to get the job done and get the wounded back to base.

"Where's that car?" Mole shouted.

"It's coming!" came another call, although she didn't recognize the voice.

"Luke? Dix? You guys see anything?"

Max turned her head and saw they were staring at the screens, skipping from camera to camera in the city's surveillance system looking for any sign of Alec.

"He got past Mickey and knocked out Tulip, so we know he made it out of Terminal City," Luke said. "He hasn't hit any of the police checkpoints. He knows we'll be watching them."

"Watch the sewer entrances," Mole said. "He has to come out sometime."

"Where can he be going?" Dix asked.

"I knew I shoulda put a tracker on that kid," Mole muttered. "He gets in more trouble than the rest of us put together."

"Guys!"

Slick was shouting and starting to sound panicked. Max kind of wished she could open her eyes to see what the problem was.

"Where's that car?" Mole shouted again.

"She's gonna bleed out before we even get her to the hospital!" Slick yelled.

"Car's out front!" Dix called.

"Zip, help lift her! Slick, you keep pressure on the wound!" Mole ordered. "She dies before you get her to the hospital, you'll have to answer to Alec when he gets back, and I am _not_ gonna be the one to tell him we let that happen. You idiots got that?"

Max felt herself being lifted, but she didn't hear anything after that.

It was too dark. And Alec wasn't there.

She was gonna kick his ass for leaving her like this. And then she was gonna kill whoever had done this to Alec. She was gonna kill them for hurting them both.

* * *

_More soon..._


	6. Chapter 6

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA.

Chapter Six

* * *

Max awoke slowly. She slid her hand to the side, reaching for Alec, but felt only the edge of the bed. She frowned, and tried to force her sticky eyes to open. She felt with her other hand, but once again only encountered another mattress edge. That wasn't right. She and Alec had a double bed. He was always there when she woke up.

Max blinked her eyes open and they immediately began to water as they were assaulted by the bright overhead lights.

"Alec?" Her voice was scratchy from disuse.

"Medium fella not here," she heard Joshua say.

"Josh?" She forced her eyes to focus so she could figure out what Joshua was doing in her bedroom.

Not her bedroom. Hospital. _Crap_.

Alec had shot her. He'd _shot_ her. And then he'd taken off.

"Little Fella all right?"

Max quickly took an internal inventory. She felt like death on a cracker, but that was pretty par for the course seeing as how her own husband had tried to kill her.

"Yeah," she said still sounding gravelly. "How long have I been out?"

"Couple of days. Sam says almost died. Needed blood. Joshua helped."

Max had to smile at that. Joshua was generous to a fault whether it was with macaroni and cheese or blood donations. "Thanks, Big Fella."

Joshua looked down, troubled. "Max on TV again."

Her eyes widened at that. "What?"

"Max famous. News people heard about hospital."

"Crap. What else do they know?" This was exactly what they didn't need, not right in the middle of the other disasters. They'd had too many missions go wrong. Whip had tried to off the mayor, although she wasn't sure how much of that had become public knowledge, and now TC's leader had been shot by one of their own, this time, Alec, whose face was as well known as hers. Thankfully, the sector police had no jurisdiction inside Terminal City, so no matter how curious everyone was, there would be no "official" report to leak to the press. That didn't mean Gordon or the government would ever trust them with a job again.

"Mole sent statement to press. Said bad guy hurt you. Mole says isn't a lie. Says Medium Fella not himself. Being used by bad guy."

Max nodded, exhaustion and too many responsibilities weighing heavily on her. The pain in her chest was a deep, constant throbbing and she badly wanted to go back to sleep until it was gone, but she couldn't. Couple of days, Joshua had said. "Have… has anyone seen Alec?"

Joshua shook his head. He wouldn't quite meet her eye as if he didn't want to tell her, but Josh just wasn't good with secrets. "No sign. Dix still looking, but Medium Fella too smart. Avoided cameras."

Alec was one of the best at what they did and on top of that he knew exactly what kind of capabilities TC had and how to avoid being seen. She had to get out of here. She had to find Alec. He needed her right now as much as she needed him. She reached to her arm to begin removing the lines attached to her.

"Don't do that!"

Max looked up to see Sam Carr coming through the hospital room door. Logan was right behind him and Max had to stop herself from letting out a snarl at the sight of the two. She didn't want to talk to them. She needed to get back to work.

"Max, you can't go. You were just shot," Dr. Carr said evenly, as if talking to an injured, cornered animal, which she supposed was pretty close to the truth. "You need to take care of yourself."

"I will," Max said, trying not to snap at him. "I'll rest, but I need to get back. I have to find Alec." She sat up, ignoring how pathetically weak she felt and the incredible effort it took just to move that little bit.

"Max, he shot you!" Logan cried.

Max looked worriedly to Dr. Carr, but he shook his head, a pained half-smile on his face. "I won't tell anyone. Patient privilege. More importantly… transgenics will kill me for blabbing…" He said it lightly, but Max knew a few cases where that was absolutely true. "Either way," Sam added, "I know when to keep my mouth shut."

"Logan, Alec got a phone call right before it happened. This is part of whatever's going on. He's been messed with. I have to _find_ him and _help_ him!" Her chest tightened as she spoke and Max was left panting for breath.

"No, Max. Let one of the others do this. It's too dangerous and you need time to heal."

"He's my _husband_, Logan."

Logan looked like he'd just eaten something rotten. "Not technically."

"Yes, technically," she bit out. "I promised, he promised. We had a cake and a party and everything. I wore a _dress_. We just don't have a piece of paper because the government likes using us as spies, but they won't recognize us as citizens."

Max broke out in a sweat and had to lie back, her lips clamped together as the pain became nearly unbearable. She pressed a hand against her chest, her fingers splayed wide across her breastbone, willing her heart to quit trying to beat her to death from the inside out.

"Max?" Dr. Carr stepped closer to the bed.

She didn't answer, working to control her breathing and calm down in general or she was going to end up screaming at Logan again. She liked him. He was a good man and a good friend. He worked very hard for them and for everyone in general trying to make Seattle a better place to live. But if he didn't shut up about Alec, and quit trying to worm his way back into her affections she was going to have to knock his teeth out.

"Max, relax and take a few shallow breaths. Your system is overtaxed, and you need to calm down," Sam said, staring at the machines nearby that were monitoring her.

The room was silent for several moments while Max waited for the pain to return to manageable levels. "How am I?" she asked.

"Well, for someone who's just been shot, you're in decent shape," the doctor replied. "The bullet hit a lung and did a nice dance routine, bouncing around in there, nicking up all kinds of organs that most people find very necessary, but other than that…" He smiled kindly at her.

"You were in surgery for hours," Logan said more seriously. "Joshua had to give you blood as well as two other transgenics."

"As soon as we plugged all of the holes, though," Sam said, "you perked right up. You already look like someone who's had a week or so to heal instead of a couple of days."

"Great. I need to get out of here."

"Max have to wait for car," Joshua said. "News people all parked out front."

She groaned unhappily. The problem with being a Freak celebrity was that the second she was outside Terminal City the news people were following her. Her being shot would have been a news sensation. She didn't even want to guess at the sort of fantastic scenarios they'd come up with to explain how she'd been injured.

"Anybody have a cell phone?" Max asked.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Logan said. Nevertheless, he held out his cell phone, careful not to touch her.

"Noted. Still don't care," she replied curtly. Max accepted the phone and dialed Command.

"_What_?"

"Nice, Mole. Real friendly."

"_Max_?"

Max hadn't known the lizard's voice could get that high. "I'm not dead. Yay me. Look, I need someone to come get me."

"_Are you sure that's_-"

"Yes. Now send somebody to get me, and make sure they pick an exit the reporters haven't staked out. I gotta get outta here, but I don't wanna be on the evening news."

"_Give me half an hour_," he answered.

"And Mole?"

"_Yeah_?"

"Has Mink said anything yet?"

"_Not a word_."

She'd figured as much. "I've got an idea. Get him ready."

"_Done_," he said and hung up.

"Max, this is insane," Logan tried one last time.

Max looked to Dr. Carr, but he just shrugged. He'd been the designated doctor that all of the transgenics had been coming to since Terminal City had become its own little island in the city. He'd dealt with them enough now that he knew trying to keep them down was not an effective survival strategy. "Just take it easy, Max. You're tied up with a lot of string in there. Give it a chance to heal properly before you go doing anything strenuous."

Max turned toward Joshua. "Big Fella, I need you to find me some clothes."

* * *

Max hobbled into Command feeling practically decrepit. Joshua hadn't left her side from the moment she stepped out of her hospital bed and he now had an arm around her, matching her slow gait. She hated to admit how comforting, and necessary, it was. Luke hurried to produce a chair and she sank into it as her shaky legs finally gave out.

They all remained quiet. Mole was pacing back and forth and the rest of the people in the room seemed to be hovering unnecessarily. Alec was gone and she'd been out of commission and everyone just seemed on edge. She tried not to let it bother her since she was feeling just as on edge. She would until she knew about Alec.

"Everything set up?" Max finally asked.

"We're all ready," Dix answered.

"Ok, then. Bring him in and let's hear what he has to say."

Mole nodded to Slick who was standing to one side of the main door. He disappeared for a few moments and then came back followed by four transgenics walking in a square around Mink, who was once again cuffed and now limping a bit, she presumed from the bullet wound Alec had given him.

"Mink, we need to talk," Max started.

"My designation is X5-486."

"Your name's Mink and we need to know who called you during your mission."

Mink simply stood there completely silent. Max pursed her lips in annoyance. That was the problem with transgenics. Name, rank, and serial number was all the same thing for them. You captured one and all you got was one lousy bit of information and that was it.

"Who called you, Mink?" Max asked again. "You screwed up your mission and we need to know why."

Mink turned cold, dead eyes on her that made Max's skin crawl. She'd always kind of liked Mink. He was a nice guy, had a decent sense of humor, smart and not too badly screwed up from Manticore. He was a good team leader and his people followed him because they liked and respected him, not because he ordered them to.

"I completed my mission as ordered," Mink said icily.

"Who gave the order?" Max demanded. "We need to know who did this to you so we can help you."

Mink sniffed disdainfully, then looked up. One second he was on the ground in the middle of his guards. The next he was in the building's rafters headed for the nearest window.

"Don't let him leave!" Mole shouted, and the guards ran for the door intent on stopping him before he got to a gate or a tunnel.

Command fell silent and Mole came to stand beside her, his mood clearly even more foul than usual if his cigar chewing was any gauge.

"They know to make it look good?" Max asked.

"They know their jobs," Mole grunted.

"Dix, how's the tracker?" she called.

The transhuman turned toward her, looking away from the screens. "The signal's good. There's no way he knows it's there."

Max nodded and everyone once again fell silent. After a few moments, Mink's guards filed back into Command waiting for news. This was a calculated risk. They had to hope that Mink was headed the same place Alec had gone. They had to hope that he didn't find the tracker they'd tagged him with. Most importantly, they had to hope he chose a quiet enough route to get where he was going so that he didn't get shot by the sector police before he got there.

Max bounced her leg nervously a couple of times, but it jostled her too badly and set off a nice set of fireworks in her chest so she stopped and just sat, trying not to go crazy. She sat and listened to computer keys clicking. She listened as Mole paced back and forth, his boots grinding against the gritty concrete. She listened to the police band radio, waiting for the telltale signs of a transgenic on the loose, but nothing came.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Dix clicked a few more keys and then turned toward them. "He's out of the city."

"Where's he going?" Max asked.

Dix got up and pulled out a map. "There's only one thing in the direction he's headed."

Max stood, stifling a cry of pain as she straightened. Joshua hurried to her side and once again offered his support, both physically and mentally. He walked with her toward the table as did everyone else in Command, all huddling around the map. "He left the city here and followed this road here." Dix pointed, showing all of them the route. "But then he turned off and headed through the woods here."

Mole swore and Max closed her eyes, sighing in defeat. She sagged into Joshua's side and the big man wrapped his arm around her.

Dix tapped at a point on the map, just a little too hard. "He's headed straight for Manticore."

* * *

_More soon… The boss (who reminds me a lot of Renfro at times) ordered me in for OT tomorrow, so probably Friday._


	7. Chapter 7

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong... MA.

_Ok, I lied. Not about my boss/Renfro or the OT, but I managed to get this into shape for today. So, let's see if we can't go find Alec... _

Chapter Seven

* * *

Within half an hour they were outside the city loaded into a pair of large nondescript vans that they kept in a garage at the edge of town just for situations like this. Max was riding shotgun while Slick drove. The rest of Alec's team who'd refused to be left behind was in the back. The second van was full of a special tactical team they'd put together that was basically a SWAT team's ugly cousin who didn't have to play by all those pesky rules.

Once they left the city, the already quiet crew fell completely silent. No one knew what they were walking into, but at the very least they were all returning to the scene of the crime. The base held nothing but painful memories.

They made the turn off the main highway and headed into the woods that surrounded Manticore on all sides. The track didn't look well travelled and for that she was grateful. At least they hadn't set up large-scale operations again.

About half a mile from the base, they pulled the vans off the track and stashed them in the trees where they wouldn't be visible. Slick appeared at her door and helped her out of the van, noticeably displeased that she was with them. She had the feeling he was just as worried that Alec would kill him for bringing her along as he was about her inability to move quickly.

Max ignored him. She got her bearings and headed into the trees on shaky legs. With each step, a fresh burst of pain ripped through her chest. She knew she shouldn't be moving at all, let alone trying to move stealthily over rough terrain, but she had no other options. Alec was here and she had to find him.

The others fanned out around her, intent on protecting her as much as anything else. The strike team was in the lead and Alec's team was bringing up the rear. Slick, however, stayed right beside her. He'd apparently put himself on personal bodyguard duty and he was watching her like a hawk, no doubt afraid she was going to fall over at any moment. Which she might, judging by how weak she was feeling.

She was so absorbed in staying upright and keeping one foot moving in front of the other that it took an extra second for her to realize that the people in front of her had stopped. At a silent gesture, the teams split, seeking cover behind trees. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of someone crashing through the undergrowth heading in their direction.

The two transgenics in the lead wasted no time on subtlety. They allowed whoever it was to pass them and then stepped out from behind cover, weapons raised. The rest of the group followed suit, effectively surrounding the newcomer. Slick, however, kept a firm hand on her arm and refused to let her move from cover until they were told it was safe. Max made a mental note to kick his ass for it once she knew it wouldn't knock her unconscious to try.

Finally, she heard a short chirp and Slick released her. She stepped out and walked toward the circle of people. For just a second, she dared to hope it was Alec, but she quickly saw that it wasn't.

"Mink?" she said quietly. The others stepped to one side to allow her through.

The transgenic definitely looked worse for wear. His dark hair was mussed and his clothes were torn from his frantic flight out of Terminal City and then through the miles of woods. He was breathing heavily, and looked lost and confused.

"Max, I'm sorry. I… I don't know what happened… I…"

"It's okay, Mink," she said evenly. At least he wasn't trying to kill her or any of the others.

He glanced up at her, then away, and shook his head. "This is wrong… It's all wrong… I… I was just… and then…"

"Mink, we'll figure this out," one of the others said. "We know someone did this to you. We'll fix it, ok?"

The man nodded, unable to look at any of them. "I tried to talk to Alec, but…"

"He's here?" Max asked, a little too loudly. Mink pointed behind him, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Max turned toward the others. "Two of you, take Mink back to the vehicles. Mink, we need to cuff you until we know you're not going to have another… episode, all right?" She waited for Mink to nod his agreement. He held his hands out in front of himself, his wrists clasped together and simply waited. He almost looked relieved that he was going to be restrained.

Max didn't have time to contemplate how wrong it was to be locking up their own people. She knew for certain now that Alec was here. "The rest of you with me."

The others formed a phalanx around her as they moved toward the base, and Slick once again took his post beside her. Max tripped over a root and he grabbed her hand to keep her upright. She couldn't hold in a gasp as agony tore through her chest. Wordlessly, the others stopped for several seconds while she regrouped and then at her signal, once again moved forward. Out of necessity, Max kept Slick's hand in hers as they continued, although it pained her to accept the help. She was willing to humble herself, however, to get to Alec. She was fading and needed to get to him before that happened.

The group slowed as they approached the base. The fences were in tatters where dozens of transgenics had made their way through on that night. Max scanned the buildings, but she saw no signs that there had been any rebuilding. It was still the same burnt-out hull that they'd escaped from. There was no sign of any repairs or even of any recent activity. It was exactly the way they'd left it; an old, ruined, abandoned military base.

They hurried toward the buildings, eager to find cover once they left the trees. They moved toward the end of the building and then around the corner where they would be able to see almost all of the central buildings and the center courtyard.

The man in the lead peeked around the corner and went very still. He signaled for two of his men to approach. He gave them silent orders and they slipped around the corner and disappeared. The team leader signaled again and once again sent a pair of transgenics off, this time in a different direction. He did it a third and fourth time, leaving Max with just him and Slick.

She leaned against the wall, trying not to scream while the teams cleared the rest of the complex. She didn't have time for this, although she knew she would have to _make_ time. Finally, after what felt like forever, the teams started returning, each giving the all clear sign.

When the last one was back, the team leader visibly relaxed and then turned to her. "There's no one else here. He's all yours."

"What?"

He tossed a glance over his shoulder. "Alec's just around this corner. He didn't react to any of the teams. We're going with you, but just… be careful."

The words mocked her. The men in her life were always telling her to be careful. This wasn't a mission though. She wasn't trying to find the cure, or take down some bad guys, or find supplies, or face the press, or the politicians. Max had to go get the man she loved.

Max stepped away from the wall and took as deep a breath as her chest would allow in an attempt to settle herself. She walked around the corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

Alec was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the central parade ground. His elbows rested on his knees and his head was down, held in his hands. His hair was mussed, like it always became when he was worried and ran his hands through it too often, and his clothes were tattered and torn like Mink's were from the fight to get out of Seattle and running through the woods. Any bruises, however, had already had a couple of days to heal.

Max approached him warily, but he didn't seem to be aware that she was even there. The others ranged themselves around the parade ground, close enough to help, but clearly trying to give them at least the illusion of privacy. She saw the remains of Alec's cell phone on the ground in front of him, smashed into bits, and she used a foot to brush them out of the way.

"Alec?" He didn't respond, didn't move a muscle. "Alec?" she said a little louder and he flinched just slightly. "Alec, look at me."

After several long seconds, he shifted his hands that were supporting his head. He moved like his muscles were locked up, and she wondered just how long he'd been sitting in the same position. He raised his head, the movement painfully slow, until finally she could see his face.

His features were haggard and he blinked as if the light hurt his eyes. "Max?" he whispered in disbelief.

Max felt her chest tighten, but it wasn't from anything physical. Alec wasn't just in trouble. Alec was broken. He was _shattered_.

"Max?" he asked again, choking out the simple name. Fat tears rolled down his face, but his eyes remained unmoving, just staring at her as if he couldn't believe she was real.

"It's me." She very carefully sat down on the ground facing him, her knees brushing his. She wasn't able to hide a grimace as she leaned forward and Alec's face seemed to crumble.

"Max," he breathed out, beyond defeated. "It can't be…"

"I'm all right," she said quietly, but firmly. "You hear me? I'm all right."

He shook his head and looked down. "I thought you were dead." His voice cracked on the last word. "I thought I killed you."

"You didn't," she assured him. "I'm fine. We just need to get you back to TC so we can figure out what's going on." Alec looked up slightly, his eyes on her chest. She knew the last time he'd seen her he'd been gazing at her down the sight of a gun. She'd been bleeding, staring in wonder at her own chest much like he was now. "You staring at my boobs again? I thought I warned you to knock that off. In public, at least."

Alec completely ignored her attempt to lighten the mood. He held out a shaking hand toward her, as if still doubting that she was real. Knowing what he needed, she lifted her shirt, ignoring their audience. She took his hand and set it against her chest, over the bandages that were still in place. The pressure hurt, but she tried not to let it show.

"See?" she said gently. "Not our best date, but we both survived." She put her hand over his. "I know, ok? I know it wasn't you."

Alec ripped his hand away abruptly. "I shot you, Max. I _shot_ you. How can you…" He trailed off, lost as to how to end the sentence.

"You remember the first time we were here together?" she asked, changing tack.

"What?"

"Here." She gestured to the parade ground around her. "Remember? It was right after we met. We were all here to report about how our little breeding session went."

Alec's brow creased in confusion, but a tiny, very tiny, hint of his normal smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. "You kicked me into your cell door."

"And you repaid me by telling Renfro that we had sex. Twice."

"Yeah," he said, with a very light huff of a laugh. He still looked wrong, like he was trying to rebuild his mask, but was having trouble managing it.

"I should have known something was up between us when I didn't kill you for that. You got under my skin from the first second we met, Alec." She put all the sincerity she could muster in her voice. "You think I'm gonna let a little thing like this come between us? Especially when there was nothing you could do to stop it?"

"Max," he said, his half-constructed mask crumbling again. He pushed himself back from her. "It's not safe. _I'm_ not safe."

"We'll figure this out, Alec," she said with more certainty than she felt.

"I already did, Max," Alec replied dejectedly. "There's only one thing all of us had in common. Me, Whip, Mink, Fig… We were all screw-ups."

"What?" Max asked, confused.

"We all had a mission that we failed to complete, that we _chose_ not to complete. We all spent an extensive amount of time after that in psy-ops. I think… I think they gave us a code word, brainwashed us, so that when we heard it, we would do exactly what we were told, probably kill somebody, since that's what we were trained to do after all, and then get our asses back to Manticore. I remember… on the phone…" His face scrunched up in thought. "They said something, but I can't remember the word." He shook his head in frustration. "Probably part of the programming. I heard it, and I had to do what they told me. It was like a switch had flipped. I sh- I shot you, and I had to get back to the base. That was all I cared about. In the bad old days, if I'd screwed up again, they'd have given me the trigger word, I'd have finished the mission like they wanted and brought myself right back to them in a hurry so they could put me down or send me back into re-indoctrination." He closed his eyes, his jaw clenched. "When I snapped out of it, I was standing at attention right here on the parade ground, practically waiting for psy-ops to haul me away."

Instead, Max realized, he'd been absolutely alone when he'd fulfilled the preprogrammed response. Two days ago, he'd simply sunk to the ground and hadn't moved again, certain that he'd killed her.

"So…" Max closed her eyes, trying to think through the new information. "So, somebody has managed to get hold of those trigger words implanted in the transgenics who were considered their high-risk children."

"Max, they could do this again," Alec said, fear plain on his face. "One word and I'll shoot you again. I'll kill anybody they tell me to. I'll do _anything_ they tell me."

"So we can't let you near a phone," Max said lightly, despite how grave the situation was. "Looks like you already took care of yours."

Alec shook his head. "No, Max. I can't… I don't want to hurt you again." His voice broke and he stopped. "I'm… so... but, you're all right, Maxie. I thought… I was sure…"

"Shhh…" She leaned forward and put her hands over his. "It's ok, Alec. It's all right."

"No," he said sadly, "it isn't. I'm a danger to you."

Max cringed at the words. _We_ _don't belong with them. We're a danger to them_. He'd encouraged her to leave Logan behind, and now he was going to do the same for himself.

"I'm a danger to everyone in TC," he continued. "Just leave, Max." His voice became hushed, barely audible. "Leave me here. Please."

Max looked past him and nodded to Slick. On cat feet, the transgenic padded forward, and before Alec even knew what was happening, he hit him with a Taser that had enough volts to bring down a moose. Alec slumped forward into Max's lap. She brushed her hand through his dirty, matted hair.

"It's ok, Alec," she whispered to the unconscious man. "I promise it'll be ok. But you have to come home."

Someone had radioed for the vehicles to be brought up. The team converged around her and she allowed them to pick Alec up and carry him to the vans. She stayed close to him, refusing to leave his side as they set him in the van and bound him hand and foot. She knew it was a safety precaution, but she hated it all the same.

Max's beeper went off. She checked the display and pulled out her cell phone. Every cell phone in TC had been ordered turned off until the situation was resolved. They'd been forced to resort to the beepers and then calling in. It was annoying, but it was better than having more people get calls and subsequently go homicidal. She quickly dialed the number for Command. "Max."

"_We think we know where the call came from_," Mole said without preamble. "_You're not gonna like it_."

"Great," she said with a sigh. She got into the back of the van and sat beside Alec, close enough that she could continue brushing a hand through his hair. It was probably more for her benefit than his. "Just great."

* * *

_Off to work. More soon..._


	8. Chapter 8

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong...

_Last time, Alec was being brought back in from Manticore…_

Chapter Eight

* * *

"Tell me what you know," Max ordered as she stumbled into Command with Slick nearly holding her up. He had her arm across his shoulders and one hand around her waist as he patiently walked beside her toward a chair, intent on not hurrying her. Now that she'd found Alec and he was in one piece, physically at least, her adrenaline had bottomed and she was close to crashing. She'd done too much, too soon. She knew she should still be in the hospital, and her trek through the woods had nearly done her in.

"We traced the call made to Alec's phone to another cell phone," Mole said. Given his usual demeanor, it was hard to tell the difference between Mole happy and Mole grumpy. Max'd had months now, however, to learn to read him and right now he was seriously pissed. "It didn't have a name attached to the account, but we managed to access a list of all the other incoming and outgoing calls. The call that came in right before it called Alec's… It came from here, Max."

"From Terminal City," she clarified.

"From this building," he growled.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Max curled forward, her hands braced on her knees. One of their own had betrayed them. Someone on the outside had done the deed, but it was one of their own who'd led them to the slaughter. "Who?"

"Watch this." He turned back toward the consoles and Dix started a piece of surveillance video, the screen split into two halves, one inside Command, the other the exterior of the building. She saw Zip, the guy Alec had warned her about staring at too long, walk out of Command. He stopped outside and made a quick call. At the same time, she could see Alec patching her arm up from the first attack. On the video, Max stood up and walked toward the radios. On the second camera, Zip remained just outside the door, waiting. She saw Alec pull his cell phone out and say a few words. Seconds later the shot came. Zip didn't so much as flinch. He'd been expecting it. He waited for Alec to fight his way free, run through the door, and then Zip slipped back inside Command. She remembered he'd been one of the people who'd carried her to the car to take her to the hospital.

"That son of a bitch."

"I was thinkin' something a little nastier, but ok," Mole said through clenched teeth.

"Where is he?" she demanded, her aches and pains suddenly relegated to the back seat.

"We've got him in the old walk-in freezer," he answered. "He didn't go easy, though. He's still out."

Max stood, unable to contain a groan. "Good." She straightened her shoulders and forced herself to continue. "We need to do something else first."

* * *

Max walked into her apartment. Alec was sitting on the sofa. His hands were still bound and his face, pale and drawn, was turned toward the window. It looked like he'd had a quick shower and changed clothes. It wasn't exactly protocol for handling a prisoner, but this was Alec. No matter how bad it was, his guard would have helped him out.

Max studied him carefully. Alec looked cleaner, but one glance told her he wasn't in any better shape than at the base. She motioned for the transgenic standing guard beside Alec to leave. He hesitated, but after an added glare, he decided it was time to go and closed the door quietly behind him.

"Alec?"

"Yeah," he answered blankly.

"I need to know if you can think of anyone else that might have been… trained… like this." She sat across from him in a chair, trying not to show that her choices had been sit down or fall down. "We left somebody at the base and Fig finally showed up there, too, so you were right. Everyone was just given standing orders. Do one last task and then get your ass back to base."

"Figured it was."

He looked like she'd pummeled him just by restating the commands he'd been given. He looked… _frail_, something she'd never thought of him as being.

"Alec, have you eaten anything since you left here?"

He finally turned toward her, and she saw his eyes were slightly dazed. "What?"

Max just shook her head. Transgenics could go without food and water, they were designed to, but they had fast metabolisms, and under extreme stress or exertion, they went downhill fast. "I'll get you something to eat."

"'Kay." He looked away once again, and she knew that it wasn't just hunger.

"Alec? Anyone else you can think of?"

"Simms," he stated flatly. "Maybe Patrick. Probably Trip."

"That everyone?" she asked trying to keep her tone matter-of-fact, despite that she was dying inside. This was the man she loved, the man she shared her bed with. This was the man she had promised to share her life with, good or bad, and now was definitely the bad.

"Everyone I can think of. I don't remember anyone else who refused to finish a job."

Max frowned. "You say it like it's a bad thing that you guys grew a conscience."

He turned toward her again, more focused now, but his eyes were bleak. "My conscience got Rachel killed. It almost got you killed. It still could."

"I'm good." She tried for a smile. He didn't want her pity right now, not that he ever did. "And no phones until we fix this. Problem solved."

Finally, that got a reaction. His brow furrowed and his jaw tightened in anger. "Max, I'll kill you if someone walks up and says one word. One. Word. You can't be anywhere near me. You shouldn't be here _now_."

Her eyes narrowed. "You know how much it pisses me off when people tell me what to do?"

His shoulders slumped, but a very tiny smirk twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, I've heard that a time or two."

Max stood up, absolutely refusing to show the pain she was in. It was a performance for Alec and she put everything she had into it. She moved toward him and set her hands on his knees. She pushed them farther apart, then bracing herself on his knees, lowered herself to the floor. It hurt like a bitch, but she was determined.

She knelt between his legs and he watched her uncertainly as she took his bound hands and lifted them over her head. She leaned forward until his arms were around her, his hands resting at the small of her back.

"You see this ring on my finger?" she asked, holding up her left hand.

"Yeah."

"This ring says you can kiss my ass. I'm not leaving and neither are you. Got it?"

He closed his eyes. "Max…"

"Don't _Max_ me. We're gonna fix this." She set her hands on either side of his face and leaned forward. She brushed her lips against his. For several seconds he was frozen, his lips rigid against hers. She parted hers over his, pulling him closer and refusing to let him get away with fighting her. Alec shuddered and made a sound too close to a sob for her liking. His lips softened and he allowed her to kiss him with all the worry and love and passion she so desperately wanted and needed to show him. Still, he remained passive, and she couldn't allow that either. She dropped her hands to his waist, and pulled him closer to her, to the edge of the sofa. She knew him, knew his body as well as she knew her own, and knew he couldn't refuse her. Suddenly, as if a dam had broken, his arms tightened around her, and it took her so by surprise that she cried out as the pain blossomed, crawling outward in a spider web from the center of her chest.

In less than a second, he'd pulled his hands over her head and sat back as far from her as he could on the sofa, breathing hard. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "Please… you have to go, Max. I'm sorry. I…" he trailed off, once again refusing to meet her eyes.

"My fault," she said tightly. "I know I'm irresistible."

He paused at that, then raised a hand and set it against her cheek. It was awkward because of his tightly bound wrists, but he twisted one hand beneath the other so he could manage it. "Always, Maxie." He leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her forehead and Max felt panic begin to flutter inside her.

"Alec?" she said uncertainly.

He released her and leaned back against the sofa and she saw in his expression why he'd kissed her. He was saying goodbye.

Alec took a deep breath. He held it and then let it out slowly. He raised his head, and Max watched in horror as he created his mask of devil-may-care indifference right in front of her, the one from before, the same jerk who'd walked into her cell and told her to take her clothes off.

His posture changed first. He straightened his sagging shoulders, still relaxed against the back of the sofa away from her, but it was a controlled relaxation, purposeful. Next, he fixed his expression, the worried careworn lines fading as he relaxed the muscles. He still looked too pale and too sharp from lack of food and excess exertion, but she suspected he would right those too as soon as he had a chance.

That left only his eyes to tell her the terrible shape he was in, and he locked his emotions down tight as a drum. He did a good job of it, too, but Max knew him. He couldn't hide it all from her. She knew him as well as it was possible to know another human. He was hers and she wasn't going to let any leftover Manticore crap pull him away from her.

"This is gonna hurt me a lot more than it's gonna hurt you," she stated firmly. Max leaned back and smacked him hard across the face, snapping his head to one side. It sent a flash of agony across her battered body that briefly had her seeing stars, but she refused to lose focus.

He brought a hand up to the side of his face, the other hand following of necessity. "You trying to make sure I have the crappiest week ever?" he asked casually.

"We've rounded up all the psy-ops people we have and they think they can undo the Manticore programming," Max said. "So we are gonna get your ass down to them now and let them root around in that thick freaking head of yours," she poked him square in the middle of his forehead, "and they are gonna get rid of the conditioning. After that, I'm gonna kick your ass for trying to shut me out. Is that clear?"

Alec cocked his head to the side, and one corner of his mouth quirked up in a definite smirk. "Just like the old days. Boss is gonna send me to psy-ops to get my head messed with. First they mess it up, then they mess with it some more to try to fix it, but no matter what, at the end of the day, the boss is still pissed."

"Don't make me smack you again," Max warned, not at all pleased at how distant he was remaining. "They _are_ gonna fix it."

"Sure they will," he mocked. "Those psy-ops people are good at what they do."

"Help me up," she ordered. For a moment his mask dropped, not even a full second, and she saw how scared he was, scared for her mostly, she suspected. Then his mask was back in place and he scooted forward to very gently help her rise from where she'd knelt on the floor.

"You should rest," he said more seriously. "Someone else can escort me to them."

Once she was on her feet, it took Max a second to catch her breath, but she shook her head angrily. "I'll rest down there while I wait," she replied firmly.

"Max," he said, anger sneaking into his tone, "when are you gonna get it? You shouldn't be around me."

"Alec, it will be fine. We'll figure this out."

Alec clenched his teeth. "You know, all this time with you and the virus, I thought Logan was the problem, but it wasn't. You guys both knew it could kill him, but you kept trying to be together, you kept pushing, until finally, Max, you decided it had to stop, but still you kept sneaking back, edging just a little closer and a little closer." His hands closed into fists. "Well not me. I won't do that, Max. I _can't_. Unlike Logan, I actually love you and I will not kill you just because I can't work up the nerve to walk away."

It was like a kick in the head and she felt dizzy. It was kind of true and kind of crap, and she was seriously pissed at him for going there in the first place and she was pissed at him for giving up on them so easily, giving up on _himself_ so easily.

"Shut up," she ordered. She grabbed his arm and swung him around toward the door before setting off with a determined step. "Let's get you down to the psy-ops people and when they're done, I'm gonna kick your ass for that little speech, too."

Alec just sighed and allowed her to pull him toward the door. "Only if I don't kill you first, Max."

* * *

_More soon…_


	9. Chapter 9

**Dogs of War**

_Alec has a date with psy-ops…_

Chapter Nine

* * *

Max awoke with a start when the conference room door opened.

The psy-ops people had met to plan how to deprogram their fellow transgenics and had chosen the conference room as the best place to work. It was all blank walls and nothing to distract while they dug around in search of the implanted orders. When they'd decided they were ready, Alec had walked through the door like a man being marched to the scaffold.

While Alec was inside with them, Max hadn't known what to do with herself. She'd started off pacing the hallway outside, but that had quickly become so obviously painful that Joshua had ordered her to stop. He had sat down on the floor and motioned for her to sit down beside him. She'd started out leaning against his shoulder, grateful for his warm, comforting presence. Somehow, she'd ended up asleep with her head in his lap and a blanket over her that had apparently been sent for.

Dreams had plagued her while she slept, dreams of screaming, begging, lasers, shouting, restraints. She knew just how horrific psy-ops was and Max had willingly sent Alec into the room with them. In her nightmares, no matter how he pleaded with her to rescue him, she ignored his cries for help.

But now the door was open, and she was waiting for the verdict. Either they had helped Alec or they hadn't. If they hadn't, she would send their asses right back into that room and tell them to keep working.

The small group of psy-ops trained transgenics filed out of the room first. Max sat up gingerly, all the while searching their faces for some sign of how it had gone. She looked at her watch and saw to her surprise that it had been hours since she'd fallen asleep. She still needed to interrogate Zip, but she wasn't going anywhere yet. Alec came first.

Max cleared her throat. "Help me up, Big Fella."

"Little Fella all right?"

"I will be once I know Alec's ok," she said truthfully.

The last of the former psy-ops people leaving the room stopped in front of her. Tipper was a tall woman with dark, cropped hair who always had a vague look of superiority on her face. Max had never liked her, and it wasn't just because she'd been trained to turn her fellow transgenics into walking vegetables if the situation called for it.

"We're taking a break before we go on to the next subject," Tipper declared. "It was harder than we thought."

"He's ok?"

"We're done with him."

Max bristled. "That's not what I asked."

Tipper sighed and Max realized the woman was exhausted. "We're almost certain we've countered the programming, but... it wasn't easy."

"Why not?"

"His conditioning took months to put in place, and it was set in stone. It had to be chipped out piece by piece." She scrubbed a hand over her face tiredly. "Once we've gone through all of the subjects, we'll come back and go through them all again to make sure."

"I hate it when you call us 'subjects'," Max griped.

Tipper shrugged. "Force of habit." She nodded her head toward the door. "You should go to him. We had to use some very unpleasant techniques to dig out the orders."

Max didn't need more encouragement. She headed toward the door to the conference room, but stopped short. She didn't like this woman, but she still owed her for this. "Thank you."

Tipper shrugged again. "We're glad to put our skills to good use for once. We know no one around here likes us, even if we were just trying to survive like everybody else back home. Still..." As if realizing she'd admitted too much, she raised her chin, that superior look back on her face. "We need to eat, then we'll bring in the next subject."

"Right." Max turned to go into the conference room, but stopped when she saw Alec standing in the doorway.

If he was in rough shape before, now he seemed even worse. He looked like he'd been put through the wringer, his eyes deeply sunken, his face haggard and lined with exhaustion. Max could almost see how hard the psy-ops people had been digging around in his head.

"Hey," he said hoarsely.

Max started forward to wrap her arms around him and assure herself that he was whole, physically at least, but Joshua beat her to it. He'd clearly been awake and worrying the entire time she was asleep and he bounded forward and gathered Alec up in a bear hug.

"Easy, Big Fella," Alec said, returning the crushing hug, although with a bit less gusto. "I'm gonna need those ribs later." Joshua hurriedly released him. Alec stumbled back and had to lean against the doorjamb.

"You ok?" Max asked, remaining where she was despite the urge to rush forward and grab him like Joshua had. Something in his demeanor told her not to approach him and she ordered herself to stay put. There were things Alec could take from Josh that he couldn't from Max, especially when he was hurt and feeling cornered.

Alec smiled, and it was the same smile she'd seen a thousand times when he'd first broken out of Manticore. It was the smile that said absolutely nothing and hid everything, the one he'd used to keep her at a distance until it was beyond obvious to both of them that they were more than just friendly enemies.

"I'm all right," he lied.

She raised an eyebrow. "That so?"

Joshua made a soft whining sound. "Joshua hear Alec get head shrunk. Didn't sound good."

Max frowned at that. Her gaze shifted from Joshua to Alec, who looked down, half-embarrassed and half-ashamed. She suddenly remembered her dreams, the shouting, the begging, and knew they hadn't all been in her head. "Alec…"

He shifted on his feet. "Shouldn't you be trying to figure out who's doing this instead of worrying about me?" Alec deflected.

Max just shook her head. As if she could stop worrying about him any more than Alec could quit worrying about her? "Alec, if you'd just-"

He clenched his jaw and held up a hand to stop her. "Not right now," he said tightly, and she could see how hard he was working to hold himself together. She hated that even though he was almost too tired to stand, he was still expending what little energy he had left to keep her at a distance.

Once again, Max fought the urge to go to him. They weren't the same people they'd been a year ago. No, they weren't great with the talking and explaining their feelings thing, but they were there for each other, as much as was possible for two damaged souls. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and remind him that she was there for him, even if he couldn't tell her what it had been like in that room. Instead, she stayed where she was and said, "Zip's locked up. I need to talk to him and find out who he called. We think he's been letting his contact on the outside know when the people who were conditioned were sent on missions. He calls them and then his contact knows just when to use the programming to screw things up."

"Zip?" Alec asked in disbelief. "Zip did this?"

"Yeah. He's been working against us. We just don't know why or what other damage he might have done."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Alec pushed away from the door. "Where is he?"

"The old freezer. It was the most secure place we could think of for him."

"Good choice. Let's go." His voice was a little too sharp, too hard.

Max took a step back when Alec headed toward her. If she didn't know better she'd say there was murder in his eye.

"Alec, we need him for information."

"Oh, you'll get the information," he vowed. He stalked past her, weary, but furious and determined. "I'll make sure of it."

Guessing she'd better get there before Alec had the chance to do anything they would both regret, she hurried after him.

* * *

Alec stopped a few yards away from the large walk-in freezer door. It had broken down years before they'd run across it, but it was very useful for locking up people who had an uncanny ability to get out of every other place.

Several transgenics were gathered outside the door, and Alec could tell they were dying to ask questions, but he wasn't in the mood to be polite. He hurt from the tips of his hair down to his toes. He was exhausted and wanted to go to bed for the next year, but thanks to the psy-ops people he had so many memories plaguing him that he didn't dare stop moving. Either the memories would swamp him or he would fall asleep and they would drive him even more insane than he already was. He had to keep going, and right now Zip was behind the door just waiting for a thorough talking to.

"Open it," Alec ordered.

The guards glanced past him to Max. She must have nodded her assent, because they moved aside and one of them pulled the bolts to allow the door to swing open.

Zip was sitting in the middle of the space. He was tied to a chair, although they all knew how useful that was with one of them. Alec really wished he had a gun. He always felt better with a gun, especially when facing someone who would try to break him in half if given the chance.

"Zip," Alec said, acknowledgement rather than greeting.

"Alec," the man replied, with a nod of his head.

"Surprised to see me?"

Zip shrugged. "Not really. I figured you were good enough to make it out of town without getting yourself caught or killed." He looked behind Alec to Max. "Now you, you I was surprised to see."

Alec fought to maintain his carefully constructed nonchalance. At the moment, all he wanted to do was smash his fist into Zip's face over and over again.

Alec had finally, _finally_, found a tiny semblance of peace after a lifetime of everything _except_ peace. He had a woman he loved, and as much as it shocked him, she loved him too and had happily promised to spend the rest of her life with him. The ordinaries weren't as prone to killing them on sight since the riot. He had a real purpose, a job that was important, that didn't require him to sell his soul, and helped all of the others like himself who were still struggling to find their place outside Manticore.

In one easy step, Zip and his accomplice had ripped all of that away. Alec had been absolutely certain that Max was dead and with her all of their hopes for Terminal City. Maybe in theory TC could keep going without her, but he knew that Max was the one who kept them all together. She kept them motivated. Everyone looked to her and without her they would be like a body without a head.

When Max had fallen, he'd seen the death of Terminal City, and he'd seen his own future blown to pieces. It was worse than the riot. This time the responsibility was on his shoulders.

Alec had spent two days sitting in the middle of the old parade ground at Manticore with nothing to do but contemplate his own failure and the ensuing fallout. He hadn't been able to gather up the energy to move. He'd killed the woman he loved and what did that leave him? When Rachel died, he'd found the strength to say goodbye to her. But with Max gone, all he'd had was the hope to follow her wherever she'd gone. If Max hadn't come to get him, he knew he would have remained sitting in the dirt waiting for dehydration and starvation to claim him.

Part of him almost wished Max had left him there to rot. He was damaged goods now, even more so than before. He knew what Max couldn't bring herself to say. The psy-ops people hadn't given him the all-clear. They'd given him the pretty-sure-he's-clear-but-he-might-also-be-a-walking-time-bomb.

Alec could have gone the rest of his life without knowing about the conditioning. Manticore was dead and it should have stayed that way. None of them should have ever been faced with receiving override orders from a long-dead project. They were free, all of them, and Alec should have been able to finish out his days none the wiser.

But now that he knew about it, what was he supposed to do? Could he stay with the others, stay with Max, knowing that one word and he could kill her, or betray them all? Maybe the psy-ops people had found this kill order, but what if they hadn't? What if there were others? What if next time he got the job done?

All he really remembered was answering the phone and a few words that he couldn't recall no matter how hard he concentrated. After that, everything was a blur of fighting and running until he found himself standing at attention in the middle of that parade ground.

Zip and his accomplice on the outside had taken everything from him. Max, his home, his job, his very peace of mind.

"What's the matter, 494?" Zip asked casually. "You don't look so good, and you weren't even the one who got shot."

Alec took two long strides forward and put every ounce of his weight into the punch. No one tried to stop him or even voice an objection.

"Max was shot. Whip is _dead_," Alec snapped. "So pardon me if I don't feel like joking at the moment."

"I forgot you knew her." Zip cocked his head to one side, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. "All of you screw-ups did tend to flock together, didn't you?"

Alec managed not to hit him again, but it was close. "Whip was sent to kill a child. Manticore wanted the kid dead to teach its father a lesson. You think it's a bad thing that she couldn't do it?"

"I think she had her orders and she should have followed them," Zip answered coldly.

Max moved up beside Alec and he had a desperate urge to side-step and block her from Zip's line of sight, better yet he wanted her out of this room, away from Zip and away from himself, too.

"Why are you here?" Max asked. "You obviously hate us all. Why did you even come to Terminal City?"

"You burnt down my home, 452." Zip's eyes narrowed. "I thought you deserved the same. This whole place deserves to burn."

"Manticore wasn't your home," Max countered. "It was a prison."

"It was my home!" he roared. "You took it all when you decided we needed to be _free_! You took _her_!"

"What?" Max asked stiffly.

"The fire," he spat. "Did you really think everyone made it out?"

"I… I didn't…" Max stuttered, and Alec could see she was genuinely taken aback at the knowledge.

"She died. We couldn't get the cell door open and she died screaming." In an instant, Zip's fury transformed into heartbreak. His chin fell so they couldn't see his face. "We couldn't get it open. Even Frank tried to help."

"Frank?"

Zip's head came back up, fury and defiance once again in place. "He was our guard. He was… a friend. He helped us when he could."

"Yeah, right," Max scoffed, but Alec quickly stopped her with a hand on her wrist. Alec and the others didn't talk about what had happened at Manticore after the '09ers left. They'd all just kept going as best they could, making connections with whoever would allow it. It often came back to bite them, but that hadn't stopped them from trying.

"What kind of deal did they make with you?" Alec asked. "They help you find your unit mates? Or Frank?"

Zip sniffed, but otherwise remained silent.

"They give you a job?" Max tried. "You get to work for the man again?"

Once again, Zip did little more than shoot them a look of derision.

"Who was she?" Alec said more quietly. Zip's sneering expression faltered. "233? I remember seeing you together. She didn't make it out?"

"She was pounding on the cell door," he whispered into the hushed space inside the freezer, "but no matter how strong I was, it wasn't enough."

"What did they promise you, Zip?" Alec asked, although he had a terrible suspicion he knew. These people had found top secret Manticore files. They might have also found…

"DNA," Zip answered, freshly defiant. "They have her DNA."

"It won't be the same, Zip," Alec said softly. He looked toward Max and thought of her clone and how different she'd been, similar, but glaringly different as well. If Max had died…

"It'll be enough," Zip replied, heartache once again showing through the anger and defiance. "It'll have to be."

"Whoever you called," Max said, ice in her tone, "they agreed to give it to you if you agreed to infiltrate our operation? You told them who was going out on the next mission and they made sure the mission went south. You get DNA and they get to watch TC fall apart."

Zip gave them an ugly smile. "It was a win-win situation. Even if they're lying and they don't have it, I still get to watch this place burn."

"So you're willing to do the same thing to us?" Alec demanded, his brief moment of pity quickly leaving. "We lived through the same crap you did and you wanna take our new home? Destroy the families we've made here?"

Zip turned his full attention on Alec, his glance promising death if only he could manage it. "I know you helped her, 494." He glanced around to the others standing ranged around the freezer as guards. "You all helped her burn our home. But you," he focused on Alec again, "you of all people should have known not to trust her. How many times does she have to rip your life apart?"

Alec focused on keeping his breathing steady, to not show how unsettled he was. The psy-ops people digging around in his head had brought back too many memories that he'd worked to bury. They'd forced him to relive his time in hell, because that's what psy-ops was. Hell, plain and simple. It was never-ending torture until everything you were was stripped away and replaced with what they wanted you to be.

Alec had been forced to relive the sheer terror of being taken in '09 and not understanding why or what he'd done to deserve punishment. The trip when his team had failed to take out their target and their handlers had refused to believe it was solely because of bad luck. Ben's on-going disasters that had once again gotten him pulled in through no fault of his own and then Rachel, through every fault of his own. Other trips for smaller infractions, all on top of the standard indoctrination sessions that had been part of everyday life at Manticore, definitely more frequent after Max and the others broke out. Mission. Duty. Discipline.

Alec had been forced to relive all of it in vivid Technicolor, as if he'd been there again. He hadn't remembered half of what happened to him in psy-ops and the other half he wished he didn't, but in order to dig out the programming, Tipper and her squad had brought it all back, every second, fresh and new, as if it were happening all over again.

Zip was wrong though. Alec didn't blame Max or the '09ers. He knew exactly who to blame. If psy-ops was hell, then Manticore was the devil responsible for putting him there. They were the be-all and end-all of every bit of the disaster that was his life. Even now, when Max had swooped in to shed some light in the darkness, it was still Manticore reaching from the grave to drag him back down.

"Ya know," Alec said lowly, leaning down to be more at eye level with Zip, "I'm sorry 233 died. But you can't get her back, and you can't fix it by killing Max. And if you even _think_ about hurting her again, I'll personally see that _you_ burn. Got it?"

For a moment, Zip looked taken aback, but his expression quickly settled into the same hard lines. "You'd be doing me a service," Zip hissed.

Alec straightened and had to look away. He understood that feeling all too well. Even now he could see Max standing in front of the radios in Command, the confusion on her face right before she fell to the floor. He could see the blood, blood everywhere. He'd had nothing left but to sit in Manticore's ashes and wait for death.

"You really think they know or care where her DNA is?" Max asked.

"They'll tell me or I'll rip their hearts out one by one," he answered, like he was talking about going out for dinner.

"Well, you're not going to get that chance," Alec promised, clamping back down on his wildly swinging emotions and turning back to their prisoner. "You're not going anywhere. We can lock you up in this freezer and let you rot."

Zip smirked. "At least until the army comes in here and drags you all away."

"What does that mean?" A fresh spike of worry formed in Alec's chest. This wasn't just an idle threat. Zip knew something and from the look on his face it was ugly.

"I'd say your days are numbered," Zip said. "If Secretary Gordon's not dead, he will be by the time you get to him. As a matter of fact, I hope you do get there in time to see him die. Terminal City is already on shaky ground. A few transgenics on hand when the deed is done will ensure you get the blame. They'll march in here and kill anything with a bar code."

"Secretary Gordon?" Max asked in disbelief.

"Where is he?" Alec demanded.

"Don't know, don't care," Zip answered airily. "Just know his time's up."

Alec grabbed Max by the arm and pulled her with him toward the door. "We've got to get to Command. Lock him back up," he ordered the others. "We'll figure out what to do with him later."

Secretary Gordon himself had warned them that any more problems would result in a reassessment of their working arrangements. If he died, the government would be sure to think the transgenics had gotten pissed off or just gone nuts and killed him.

The thought spurred Alec on and despite his exhaustion, he broke into a run. Gordon wasn't dead yet and he wasn't going to die before Alec got there and kept the wrath of the entire country from falling on them.

Max appeared at his side, matching him step for step. She had one arm wrapped close to her chest and he knew she was hurting, but still she kept pace. Without breaking stride, Alec grasped her free hand, running alongside her and offering her what strength he had left.

He'd done this to her. He knew that he hadn't had a choice, but that didn't change what had happened.

He had to keep her safe. It was one of the things he'd promised her when he put the ring on her finger. He'd sworn to protect her and in order to do that he had to save Gordon. Alec had been too late to save the people he cared about too many times. Worse yet, he'd been the direct cause of their downfall. He vowed that this would not be one of those times.

Alec ignored his body's protests, and ran.

* * *

_More soon…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong...

_So... Gordon's in trouble..._

Chapter Ten

* * *

Alec blurred through the door to Command and skidded to a halt with Max still at his side. "Mole," Alec called, breathing harder than should have been necessary for a transgenic, "please, tell me we can get a location on Secretary Gordon."

"What? Why?" Mole asked, even as he turned toward Dix and Luke to make sure they began work on the request.

"Zip says they've put a hit out on him and they're gonna pin it on us."

Mole's cigar wobbled as the ramifications hit him. "After the other crap, that'll be enough to convince the government we're too dangerous. They'll take us out."

"So find him before he's dead," Max snapped.

"He could be anywhere," Alec remarked, thinking out loud. It wasn't like Gordon's sole purpose was to deal with the transgenics and their ongoing disasters. He was the Homeland Security Secretary and with the shape the world was in, he was a busy man.

"We know he's still in the city," Mole countered. "He's been hanging around since the attempt on the mayor. Thankfully, Max got shot and the press kinda forgot all about the mayor."

"Yeah, _thankfully_," Max said waspishly.

"I'm just tellin' it like it is," Mole returned. "Gordon knows something's up. His people have been trying to set up another meet, probably to fire us, but we've been putting him off." Mole shrugged. "After Max got shot, he wanted to talk to Alec and uh… you were outta commission."

"Just gets better and better," Max muttered.

"Logan was supposed to meet with Gordon." Alec remembered how annoyed he'd been at the other man's newest attempt to worm his way back into transgenic business and Max's heart. "Did that already happen? While we were… gone?"

"The ape hasn't said anything," Mole answered, "but then he spent most of the last couple of days at the hospital with Fearless Leader, here."

Alec turned toward Max keeping his expression passive. "That so?"

Max's eyes narrowed. "I can't control who's there when I'm unconscious, now, can I?" She walked closer to him and got right in his face. "I walked straight out of the hospital, _against_ doctor's orders, to get _you_," she said under her breath. "So you are not gonna give me any crap about Logan being there. Understand?"

Alec just nodded. It was his fault anyway. It should have been him at her side. If he hadn't been such a head case, he might have got off his ass and come back to TC and found out what had actually happened to Max.

Alec had been absolutely certain that he killed her. To be honest, he still wasn't sure how she'd survived, although he was beyond grateful. He might even try to be grateful to Logan for being there for Max when he couldn't. He wasn't yet, but maybe one day.

"You're right," he said quietly. "No crap." He pushed the guilt down, locking it up tight, and blanked his expression. He had to protect Max and that meant keeping his distance. No matter how badly he wanted to bury his hands in her dark hair, lose himself in her arms, strip her naked to assure himself she was healing and then worship every square inch of that body with his own to try to atone for the sin of harming someone he loved so much, and then abandoning her care to others and to Logan.

Max frowned. "I wish I knew what was going on in that idiot head of yours."

Alec took a step back despite the implication that he was retreating. He allowed his lips to curl up on one side. "Just wishing I had a drink."

"Sure you do," Max scoffed. "Cause all you care about is booze and money."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "So I'm told."

Max grabbed a fistful of his shirt and jerked him down so they were eye level. "This thing you're doing is pissing me off," she said through clenched teeth. "I'm gonna let it go for now because we have bigger problems, but once we're done, you and me are gonna have words. If I'd wanted the smart ass I met back at Manticore, I'd never have worked so hard to whip you into shape."

Alec couldn't help it. He broke into a full smirk. "You callin' me whipped, Max?"

"I'm callin' you a dumbass who's hiding from me in plain sight," she bit out, "and I'm gonna knock your teeth out if you keep it up."

Alec sighed, dropping the smirk. "It's better this way and you know it."

"We don't have time for this." Max released him, shoving him a little harder than was necessary. She turned back toward Luke and Dix who were still searching and Alec wanted desperately to reach out and pull her back. Just the thought of letting her go was ripping him in half.

He saw now why Max had found it so difficult to push Logan away. After the last infection scare, she'd known it was the right thing to do, that it was too dangerous, and Alec felt the same conviction now. He was too dangerous for her to be near and he was going to have to leave, but the sight of her walking away… She was like a siren, her song beckoning him to follow wherever she would lead, even if it was to his doom.

"I've got a route of travel on Gordon's car," Dix announced to the room at large. "Let me pull up the hover-drones and see if I can find it."

"I need a phone," Alec said.

Several of the others in Command looked up and then quickly looked away. Mole walked toward him, a scowl firmly in place. "You know I can't. Not until Tipper's people say you're totally clear."

Alec rapidly developed a scowl of his own. Yeah, he did know. As a matter of fact, the thought of holding a phone made him nauseous.

"Fine." His teeth were clenched so tightly, Alec could feel the muscles in his jaw jumping. "Call Logan. Ask him about his meeting with Gordon."

Mole huffed past his cigar, but finally nodded. He pulled out his own cell and dialed, all the while muttering under his breath about why he had to be the one to call the ape. Alec shrugged mentally. It was good for him. Mole had serious trust issues with ordinaries, not that they weren't often justified. Plus, it was just fun to make Mole do things that pissed him off.

"_Hello_?"

"We need to find Gordon," Mole said without preamble. "You meet with him already?"

"_I'm just pulling up to the meeting with him now_," Logan answered. "_I have to go. I'll tell you how it goes as soon as it's over_," he added and hung up.

Mole pulled the phone away from his ear and just stared at it as if he could make the thing explode with the power of his glare.

"Somebody get a locate on Logan's phone," Alec ordered. "And I need my team ready to go in five."

"No way," Max said, stalking toward him. "You're not going."

Everyone in Command quickly averted their eyes. They knew very well not to get between them when a fight was brewing.

"My team knows every nook and cranny of this city, Max. If the crap hits the fan, we're the ones who can handle it."

"You're barely standing," she shot back. "You really think you're gonna be able to do any good out there?"

"In case you didn't notice, there's an entire army of news vans parked at our gates. They're just dying to get our take on what happened. All they know is that you were shot and now you're not in the hospital. We need people who can get around this town and not be seen. That is my crew," he argued. "It's what they were chosen for. We have the sneakiest DNA Manticore could come up with."

Max's nostrils flared, and Alec had the insane thought that she might have some rabbit DNA. Her nose twitched when she was pissed at him. "Fine. They can go. But not you."

Alec looked around the room and saw Slick nonchalantly leaning near the doorway, seemingly unaware of his bosses fighting. "Slick, quit standing there. Round up the team."

"Logan's in a restaurant," Dix called loudly to get their attention. "Not sure which one. I can only pinpoint the phone within a few hundred feet, but that whole strip on 3rd is restaurants for the rich and shameless."

Alec turned toward Slick again. "Meet me at tunnel 2 as soon as you get everyone." Slick nodded and blurred out the door.

Alec took a quick internal inventory. Exhaustion. Check. Gnawing hunger. Check. Brain overload. Check. Paralyzing heartache. Check. Sincere need to kick someone's ass. Double check. Alec was going to find out who these people were who'd been sent to kill Gordon and he was going to follow the chain back to the person on the other end of Zip's phone calls. Max wasn't going to like it, but in order to protect her, he had to save Gordon and he had to get himself away from her. This plan would do both.

"You are _not_ going," Max said again.

"They're my team," he replied seriously. "We're sneakiest when we work together. And don't try to tell me you're going, either. You're barely out of the hospital, and you won't be able to move with us." Max glared, but he ignored it. "Not to mention that the media will be all over it, if anyone gets a glimpse of you."

"You either," she snapped. "You're the one who plastered yourself all over the TV after the riot."

"Yeah, but I don't have any holes in me at the moment," he said, his eyes dropping briefly to her chest and then back up.

"That can be easily changed," she warned, but Alec saw she was weakening.

He stepped very close and put his hands on her shoulders, leaning forward so that they were almost touching. "Let me do this, Max," he pleaded. "I know I'm tired, but these people… what they did… to us…" His voice broke and he cursed himself for resorting to honesty to get his way. "I _need_ to do this, Maxie. I'm just tired. That's all."

Max only shook her head. She had to know that short of tying him up again, he was going. And tying him up would just mean it would take him a few extra minutes to get out and get to his team.

"I need my gun," Alec said, stepping back from her. "Who's got it?"

Once again Mole approached him, this time stopping at a drawer and withdrawing Alec's pistol. The last time he'd seen it, it had been knocked out of his hand right after he'd shot Max. Looking at it made him want to throw up, but he held out his hand to take it. It was no more the fault of the gun than it had been his fault. They were both mindless weapons that Manticore had used yet again. Of course, that didn't mean they weren't dangerous in their own right. Alec had every intention of personally informing these people of just how much he didn't appreciate having his choices taken away from him.

Alec looked at Mole and smirked. "Is it wrong that you'll give me a gun, but not a cell phone?"

Mole grunted. "I don't care who you shoot," he said. "I just don't want to have to hear you talk anymore. If I have my way, you're never getting another cell phone."

"Can't get your cigars if I can't call my supplier," Alec sing-songed.

Mole thought about it for half a second. "I've been wanting to give them up. Health reasons." He grinned widely, white teeth flashing around his cigar.

Alec snorted, but his amusement quickly fled. He needed to leave. "You'll keep her safe?" he asked, his eyes glancing toward Max.

"As if that's possible?" Mole said, but he nodded anyway.

Alec accepted it as the best he could hope for and headed for the door.

* * *

Max and Mole stood side by side watching Alec leave. As soon as the door shut, Mole turned toward her. "So you going or not?" he asked.

"Is that even a question?" she responded, eyebrows rising high.

He grunted and she wasn't sure if it was in amusement or simply in resignation. "Don't get killed. And don't let Gordon get killed."

Max simply headed for the door. "That's the plan."

* * *

_More soon..._


	11. Chapter 11

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong...

_Alec to the rescue! Oh, all right, Max, too..._

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Max peered around the edge of the apartment building opposite the strip of restaurants. She knew Alec and his team had to be there already, but she didn't see them. That didn't necessarily mean anything. As Alec had said, they were a sneaky bunch. Even though Alec had been on TV almost as much as she had, he and his crew still ranged all over the city in search of supplies for Terminal City, unrecognized and unseen unless they wanted to be. Times were tough, even for people with money and Alec was their head negotiator. Just because they were semi-legal citizens now with a decent cash flow didn't mean getting enough supplies to take care of them all didn't take a lot of work.

Max glanced into the various restaurants, but didn't see anything that looked like Secretary Gordon's entourage. She also saw that there were no helicopters or police blockades, so at least he was still alive.

"Hey, Max."

Max jumped and whirled to find Alec standing directly behind her. She hadn't heard him approach, but then her chest was killing her and she was having a little trouble focusing. That was totally the reason, and had nothing to do with the fact that Alec was freaky quiet when he wanted to be.

"They're in the fancy French place," Alec said. "He's got a security detail with him, but that's not going to be much help."

"Why not?"

"Because, from the looks of it, half the people in that restaurant are familiars."

Max remained silent, her eyes glued to the restaurant front. It was definitely nicer than what nearly everyone else on the planet could afford. It had an awning out front, and window boxes with actual plants in them. The most impressive thing was that it was clean. Nobody else post-pulse put out the money or effort to keep the place clean. They were too busy trying to survive to worry about dusting.

Max half-turned toward him. "You're not even going to ask why I'm here?"

Alec snorted. She could tell he was displeased, but he didn't seem surprised. "Max, how long have we known each other?"

"Feels like forever," she replied, eyes back on the restaurant. She focused and thought maybe she could pick out one of Gordon's security people inside, toward the back.

"And in all that time, no matter how logical it is for you to stay away, or how much I ask you to let me take care of it, when have you ever stayed home when there was trouble?"

Beneath the irritation, Max could sense a touch of amusement in his tone, and she was glad to hear it. At one time she would have welcomed the thought of Alec distancing himself from her. Now it was enough to destroy her. Alec had made himself an integral part of her life almost from the very beginning and she couldn't bear to lose him now.

"I can't let you idiots have all the fun," she said.

Alec stood close behind her so he could peek around her more easily. "I was hoping Mole would have the sense to lock you up." His hand rested on her hip and slipped slightly forward to hook around her, anchoring him to her. He leaned forward, his chest pressed against her shoulder as he glanced toward the restaurant.

As always, the closeness of him, the contact, set her entire body humming. When they were first together, she'd thought the effect Alec had on her was because she was so touch-starved. All he'd had to do was brush against her to set every oversensitive nerve she had singing. She'd been sure that the effect would pass once her stupid skin remembered what it was like to be close to someone. She'd soon realized, however, it wasn't any of her rationalizations. It was Alec. Once she started paying attention, she realized she was constantly being touched. Joshua had always been a hugger and others were always shaking her hand or bumping into her in crowded meetings. It was only Alec's touch that had her begging for more.

Alec's arm tightened fractionally as he continued to lean around her to see the restaurant and Max couldn't help a sudden indrawn breath.

"Max?" he asked worriedly. He drew her back from the corner and pushed her against the building so he could inspect her. "What is it? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she answered. Her breath hitched in her chest as he settled both hands on her hips, his fingers like hot branding irons, burning through her clothing. In the back of her mind, she knew this wasn't the time or place. Still, she needed him to touch her and she willed him to continue as his fingers slid from her hips beneath her shirt. Alec wanted to make sure she wasn't injured, but his gentle fingers had her thinking of an entirely different pastime.

She let out a tiny whimper and his hands abruptly left her. She focused on him again, and saw that he had badly misinterpreted her reaction to him.

His face was expressionless, but his hands were fists at his side. It was a glaring sign of just how badly out of sync they were. Normally, Alec knew her, knew her body, knew how to touch, when to touch, when not to. More importantly, he _knew_ her. They worked together so well because Alec could read her like no one else.

Max reached out and placed her hand against his cheek, startling him, almost as if he'd been expecting a slap instead of a caress. "I'm fine," she said again, willing him to believe her. "Now stop being so twitchy. So what if you shot me. You didn't mean anything by it."

"Max, you don't-"

She stopped him with a kiss. She slid her hands in under his jacket and felt how tense his muscles were across his chest and abdomen. She eased her hands to his back, her fingers splayed wide across the taut expanse as she pulled him closer to her. Alec allowed it, although she noted he was very careful with her, anxious to save her a repeat of their earlier problem.

Max used her body, her mouth, and her hands to wipe that blank expression off his face. Alec moaned against her lips, the sound half-pleasure, half-agony. "Stop," he whispered, his lips still brushing hers as he set his hands against her shoulders. "We have to stop." He pushed her back, and for a second the loss she saw in his face was nearly paralyzing, but he quickly covered it with his hard-earned mask of indifference. Only his eyes remained to show the devastation.

"_Alec, I've almost got you patched in on the frequency with Gordon's security team_." Alec's team members were all wearing earpieces, but Max could hear the faint transmission.

"Thanks," Alec said, although the word came out sounding strangled. He cleared his throat, shrugged his shoulders loose, and took a decided step away from her, although still remaining hidden from the restaurant across the street.

"_You're live_."

Alec turned and once again focused on peering around the corner of the building toward the restaurant where Logan and Gordon were having their lunch meeting.

"Terry, can you hear me?" Alec asked.

Max moved up beside Alec so that she, too, had line of sight into the restaurant. She saw the guard she'd caught sight of earlier stiffen at the sound of a new voice on their supposedly secure channel. She hadn't realized it was Terry, but was glad to know it. He had a level head and wouldn't immediately discount what they had to say.

"Don't say anything. It's Alec and we have a problem. Just shrug one shoulder if you understand."

They both waited and Gordon's head of security shrugged a shoulder making it look like a natural movement as he shifted slightly on his feet.

"Ok, Terry. We've been warned of a credible threat against Secretary Gordon. We're pretty sure that you've got at least five hostiles inside the restaurant with you. It might be more, but we won't know until we're actually inside."

Terry's posture didn't change, but she saw that he began studying the people around him with more determined interest. The problem was that no matter how good he was, he wasn't a transgenic or a familiar. He had a gun, but even with that he was at a distinct disadvantage. He just wasn't as strong or as fast as the people he was up against.

"How many on your team?" Alec asked.

Terry brought a hand up to his cheek facing the window and scratched surreptitiously, once, twice, three times.

"Is there a way you can get the Secretary out of there quickly without it looking like you're trying to get him out?"

Terry sniffed and stayed put. Max took that as a no, and she supposed Alec did as well because he sighed heavily. "These people in the restaurant, they're not transgenics, but they can kick your asses before you even realize what's happening," Alec warned the man. "We're going to have to come in hot. We surprise them and keep them occupied. In the meantime, your one and only job is to get Secretary Gordon out of there and as far away as possible. They want him dead and they want us blamed, so just get him gone. Don't stop until you're back in Washington. Got it?"

Terry sniffed again in acknowledgement, but if Max was any judge he looked very, very unhappy with the situation.

"Alpha team in place?" Alec asked.

"_Affirmative_."

"Bravo?"

"_Affirmative_," the second group echoed although Max had no idea where any of them were. She assumed one of the teams was behind the building and was about to come in that way while the others came in the front. She knew none of them would be visible until they wanted to be. Max was good, but her style was a little down and dirty compared to the others and their full range of Manticore taught lessons and skills.

Max saw Terry tense and his head snapped to one side as he followed something they couldn't see. "Alec!" she said in alarm, but he'd already seen it as well.

"Move in," Alec ordered, already pulling his gun from the back of his waistband.

They were instantly moving across the street, out of the direct line of sight of the windows. Two members of Alec's team appeared at their side. Alec pointed from one of his men, Slick again, to Max and the man nodded. Max frowned at the silent order to watch out for her, but ignored it in favor of concentrating on the task at hand.

Alec was in the lead, and without preamble he shot out the large picture window. He hit it high enough that no one inside would be hurt by a stray bullet, but the glass still shattered and fell, causing a huge distraction to everyone inside as well as giving them a large entrance that they wouldn't have to funnel through one at a time.

After that it was almost a blur. There were approximately five familiars as they'd been able to guess beforehand, but they were interspersed with other paying patrons who were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Terry and his fellow guards circled Secretary Gordon and immediately began hustling him toward the back of the business and the exit they'd apparently chosen as their safety net. Logan was between Gordon and their exit and he was summarily ushered out as well. Two of the familiars started to pursue them, but Alec and another member of his team quickly blocked them from following.

Alec brought his gun up, but the familiar opposite him, a huge brute of a man, was too fast and Alec was hampered by his exhaustion. His gun went flying. Alec paused to regroup for only a second before he moved forward to crowd the man and fight him hand to hand before he could pull any weapons.

In the back of her mind, Max heard several shots and knew absently that Alec's team wasn't taking any chances. The familiars were trying to kill them, as well as ruin them, and they were being shown no mercy.

That left only Alec and the man who was trying to beat him senseless all the while retreating toward the broken window and his escape route. She called a warning when she saw the knife, but it was too late. The familiar slashed at Alec's abdomen. Max saw his face twist in a grimace just as Slick put a pair of bullets in Alec's opponent.

The familiar fell into a bloody heap, but Alec remained standing. He wrapped an arm around his middle and Max couldn't see how much damage had been done.

"Alec?"

He ignored her. "Everyone ok?" Alec asked and received a chorus of positive responses. He paused, breathing too hard and looking far too pale for her comfort. "Gordon get out?"

"His car pulled out about two minutes ago," one of the guys who'd come in the back replied.

"S'great," Alec slurred. "We should get outta here."

His arm fell away from his midsection and Max's eyes widened. He'd been gutted, literally. It was a deep, jagged, horizontal gash across his abdomen. Alec hadn't been trying to slow the bleeding. He'd been trying to keep his guts in. Alec started to sag and Max sprang forward to catch him as he fell. His weight pulled at her own injuries and she toppled to the floor with him.

"Alec!" she shouted as she got to her knees and leaned over him, unsure how best to help him.

"S'ok, Max," Alec said, barely audible. "S'better. M'not safe."

"Alec, just shut up about that!" she ordered. Max turned toward the others who were gathering around them. "Who's got a phone?"

They all shook their heads. "Off limits until we get the all clear," Slick said, already moving toward the kitchen area in back. "I'll find one."

"Tell them to hurry!" she said, as if ambulances had a habit of dawdling. It didn't matter. Alec was in bad shape and she had to say it. "And tell them to page Dr. Carr!" she shouted at Slick's retreating back. "I want him waiting when we get there!"

"Let 'em do th'r jobs," Alec mumbled, a tiny smirk appearing. "Al's so bossy."

"Now you find your sense of humor?" she asked through clenched teeth. She ripped one of the white cloths off a nearby table and pressed it against Alec's stomach. The gash was wide enough she had to use both hands to try to maintain pressure on it and another of the team knelt on Alec's other side and added his own hands to Max's in an effort to keep him from bleeding out before the medics could get there.

Alec's face screwed up in pain. "Sh' prob'ly be grateful. Few inches lower and be singing soprano."

"Alec, please stop talking," she begged, needing him to conserve his energy.

"Crime agains' female pop'lation." He grunted when the guy helping Max shifted and placed a bit heavier pressure on Alec's wound. "Max'd never forgive 'em."

"Yeah, you're the biggest stud Manticore ever produced. Now shut _up_," she ordered.

"Max?" Alec said quietly. His eyes were open, staring at the ceiling and she had the terrible feeling he wasn't actually seeing anything.

"What?"

"M'sorry," he whispered, "for everything."

His eyes closed and his entire body went slack. Max looked down and saw that the white tablecloth was a blood soaked mess. She could hear the sirens in the distance, but that didn't mean anything, because there was nothing but dead silence inside the restaurant.

Max really wished she'd ordered him to keep talking.

* * *

_Only one chapter left… But you'll have to leave a review if you want your present before Christmas…_


	12. Chapter 12

**Dogs of War**

Summary: Max and Alec are finally starting to get everything up and running in TC when missions start going horribly wrong…

_Here's the last chapter for you. A very merry Christmas to all of you and a happy new year. Thank you for all of the lovely reviews and every kind word of encouragement._

Chapter Twelve

* * *

Max sat beside Alec's hospital bed. Her earlier terror had dwindled to a bone-weary anxiety, for the most part, because she didn't have the energy to sustain the proper level of fear the situation called for.

They were on the second floor, but she could still hear the hum of the crowd outside. News of the attempt on Secretary Gordon's life had spread quickly as soon as the few ordinary patrons in the restaurant started talking. They had, of course, recognized Max and Alec and after that it had been hopeless to try to keep it quiet.

An assassination attempt on someone as important as Gordon being foiled by the nation's most infamous pair of freak super-soldiers had resulted in about a zillion reporters waiting outside the hospital to ambush them if they so much as stuck a toe outside the building. They were at all of the exits, too. There would be no sneaking out after they'd let Max get away the first time.

Alec was very still in the bed, pale and drawn, as if this last insult to his overtaxed body had simply been one thing too many. He hadn't moved since they'd brought him to the room. She knew it was probably the massive amount of anesthesia it had taken to keep him down for the surgery, but that didn't make it any less disconcerting. Alec wasn't a heavy sleeper. She had to be careful not to rummage around in their apartment during her bouts of insomnia. In addition to his own trouble sleeping, even the slightest noise could wake him.

It had taken hours in the operating room to repair the damage. The familiar, with all of his freaky strength and speed, had dug the knife in deep and clawed across Alec's stomach. In addition to trying to fix that, Alec's DNA had once again worked against him. He'd spent so long in surgery he'd started to heal all wrong before they could properly repair the damage.

Dr. Carr had put them in a room with two beds. Technically, Max was supposed to be in the second one. She'd given in while Alec was in surgery, but at the moment she couldn't bear to be separated from him. Max had seen a lot of ugly things in her lifetime, a lot of things she wished her photographic memory could forget, but the sight of Alec trying to hold his own guts in would haunt her until the day she died. Somehow, it was worse than when he'd been poisoned. She'd stayed with him then. She'd held him and refused to let him give up. This time, however, they'd taken him away from her. At every moment she'd feared, yet expected the doctor to come through the door and tell her Alec had died, alone, and away from her.

Max brushed a hand over his cheek. He hadn't shaved since she'd been shot and his stubble scraped against her fingers, loud in the quiet room. She'd broken down when Dr. Carr had actually come out to tell her that Alec was holding his own. Wisely, he'd remained silent and waited for her to get herself together, then given her a timeframe for when they would bring Alec to the room she was already occupying so she could see for herself that he was alive.

Max looked up when someone stopped in the doorway. If it was another photographer trying to sneak in, someone was going to leave minus a kidney and it wasn't going to be her.

"May I come in?" Secretary Gordon asked quietly.

She stood and gestured for him to enter. The action pulled at her injuries and she grimaced involuntarily, setting a hand flat over her chest. She hadn't felt much in all the hubbub of fighting the familiars, not to mention retrieving Alec and everything in between, but now that she was free of any pending emergencies to deal with, she could feel it all and Dr. Carr had been none too happy at the shape she was in.

"Please, sit back down," Secretary Gordon said hurriedly, and Max slumped back into the chair at Alec's bedside. It felt as if she'd lost all her strength along with him and she wouldn't get it back until he got out of that bed. "How are you?"

"Kinda crappy," she answered. "But we're alive. You?"

A tiny smirk quirked up one side of his mouth. "The same. Thanks to you."

Max shrugged. "Looks bad when the boss gets killed."

"As you frequently point out, I'm a customer, not the boss."

"You helped us," she said more seriously. "We owe you."

His eyes fell on Alec's still form. "Not to disagree again, but I think I'm the one who owes you."

Max looked at Alec and thought she might have to agree. She reached forward and took Alec's hand, wishing that he would wake up and return the favor.

Secretary Gordon stepped farther into the room and Max saw Terry was shadowing him, stationing himself by the door, which was probably a good idea until they made sure the threat was over. Max hoped that was the case. If the purpose had been to undermine the stability of the transgenics and their growing foothold in the legitimate world, then the plan had failed miserably. Transgenics were the heroes of the day who'd saved a highly placed politician from assassination and been valiantly wounded in the process. The rumors in the press were that, in addition to the current situation, Max's shooting was the result of an earlier attempt on the Secretary. The reporters did love to spin a good yarn.

Gordon walked around the bed to stand opposite Max. He tapped the restraints on Alec's wrists. "Is there a reason for these?"

Max knew he was asking if it was related to what had been turning their people suddenly homicidal. She shook her head. "We fixed that. The guys trying to kill you were messing with us," she answered, although she chose not to elaborate. "Shouldn't be any more problems."

Gordon raised his eyebrows, but he'd worked with them enough to know that sometimes it was better not to ask. "I see."

Max set her hand over the restraints, which were heavily reinforced to compensate for an X5's strength. "Transgenics… especially male transgenics, when they come out from under anesthesia, have a tendency to come out swinging. Just instinct."

Secretary Gordon frowned, still staring at the restraints, as if he didn't like them any better than Max did. "Will you thank him for me?" he asked. "I have to get back to Washington, but I wanted to pay my respects."

"I'll tell him you came by."

"I also wanted to tell you that Mr. Kincaid has disappeared."

Max finally looked up at that. "He has?"

"The file I gave you the last time we met… for the mole in the UN?" She nodded that she remembered. "Kincaid didn't know about that file until I briefed him while we were flying out here. We've since discovered that as soon as we left the meeting with you, he made contact with the mole, and they both disappeared." Gordon's eyes narrowed when Max didn't react. "You don't seem surprised."

"We knew Kincaid was working for the wrong team not long after our meeting." She gestured to stop him before he could say anything. "We'd have told you, but we got a little tied up. I got hurt and then Alec…" She sighed. "We were in the middle of our own crap-storm and we didn't get around to Kincaid. I'm sorry for that. He's a member of the group who arranged the attack on you."

Gordon was silent for several seconds, his lips pursed in thought. "He will be your first assignment once you're back up and running."

Max's brow furrowed in confusion. "You're still willing to work with us?"

"You saved my life." He smiled almost kindly. "It would be rather rude of me to fire you now, wouldn't it?"

Max nodded. "We'll find him. We'll find the other mole, too. They were involved in the trouble we were having with our operatives, so we'll be all over it." Zip had called someone who just so happened to send familiars after the Secretary. Yeah, White's cult was definitely part of all this.

"Good." Gordon clapped his hands together quietly. He turned to leave, but paused. "Take care of yourselves. You two do seem to have more than your fair share of problems."

Max had to smile at that. "You don't know the half of it." She looked past him to Terry. "Take care of him, will ya?"

Terry glanced toward Alec. "You do the same. And tell him thanks for me."

Max nodded. Almost as soon as they left, there was another knock on the door and she had to grit her teeth to keep from snarling at another interruption. Max turned and saw Logan standing in the doorway.

"Max, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she answered curtly.

"You're supposed to be lying down," he observed in obvious disapproval.

To heighten her annoyance, Dr. Carr appeared behind Logan pushing an empty wheelchair. "Max, I want to take a look at you."

"Not now," she snapped. She didn't care if she was being rude. She just wanted to be left alone with Alec. That was all that mattered to her.

Dr. Carr would not be put off. "You told me you would let me take a look and run a few tests after Alec was out of danger."

Max looked back at Alec, every instinct telling her not to leave him alone. She _needed_ to be there when he woke up, for both their sakes. Max could still see him, her blood-covered hands and a dirty tablecloth the only things keeping his insides from spilling out. She could still hear Alec's fading voice telling her it was better this way. What kind of screwed up lives did they lead where anyone would think that was _better_?

"He'll be fine, Max," Logan said, clearly more concerned about getting her out of the room than with Alec's wellbeing.

"Alec won't wake up for a while yet, Max," Dr. Carr added more gently. "Just come with me and we'll get this done. We'll have you back here before you know it."

Max knew they wouldn't stop until she agreed. She also knew bitching about the wheelchair when she was perfectly capable of walking would just take more time that she would rather spend with Alec. With a last anxious glance toward the bed, she transferred from the chair she was sitting in to the wheelchair and allowed them to take her away.

* * *

Alec woke slowly and frowned at the haze still surrounding him. He couldn't move. His first terrifying thought was psy-ops, but he knew he was in the hospital. There was no way he wouldn't be after the man had tried to spill his intestines all over the restaurant floor, but he shouldn't be so groggy. Their systems usually burned through the anesthesia pretty fast.

His muscles felt odd as well, and he quickly realized they must have given him a boatload of muscle relaxants in addition to whatever they'd used to knock him out. Transgenics had a tendency to punch anyone they saw as a danger, and a disoriented transgenic had a tendency to see _everyone_ as a danger. They'd apparently decided a preemptive strike was in order. He was also in restraints. If he'd been capable of making fists, he would have. He _hated_ being in restraints. Dozens of memories suddenly washed over him of time spent in restraints, struggling to free himself as he was systematically taken apart piece by piece. The memories threatened to overwhelm him, all sharply focused and fresh thanks to Tipper and her crew.

Alec concentrated on the room, hoping someone would be there to free him. Max wasn't immediately visible to his blurry eyes and he felt his spirits swiftly deflate. He hurriedly told himself he shouldn't want her around. He was too dangerous for her to be with. But what he knew was the right thing, and what he wanted were two different things. Maybe it was a good thing he was in restraints.

"Are you awake?"

Someone was in the room, although Alec couldn't quite place the voice. He really must have been drugged to the gills if he hadn't noticed someone in there with him. Alec groggily turned his head.

Kincaid was sitting in the chair next to his bed. Alec tried jerking on the cuffs, tried moving at all, but as much as Alec wished it, his muscles just wouldn't respond the way they were supposed to. He couldn't get away, he couldn't fight. He couldn't do anything but sit there and stare like an idiot at the familiar.

"You killed my men in the restaurant," Kincaid said blithely, as if they were talking about the hors d'oeuvres they'd had instead of a fight to the death. "It's a setback, but we'll just go about this a different way."

Alec's eyes widened. If the man wanted to kill him, there wasn't a thing Alec could do about it. He was as floppy as a baby, and bound hand and foot as well. Kincaid could slit his throat and Alec would have to lie there and watch.

"When we found the files with the trigger words for you and your friends, it was like a gift dropped right in our laps," Kincaid explained. "We were having a wonderful time watching you freaks self-destruct. We had so many plans."

"You… Zip… called you," Alec forced out through numb lips.

"Always useful to find an informant, or a traitor from your point of view," Kincaid sneered.

"Why… you… here?"

"Because we won't rest until every last one of you is dead." Kincaid leaned closer. "But 452 is special. All I had to say was one word and you shot her for me," he whispered. "You came closer to killing her than we have in months. I came to thank you."

Alec ordered his body to obey, fought with everything he had, but it was useless. He was too weak and the restraints were reinforced. He couldn't save Max. He couldn't save himself. Worst of all, he couldn't save Max _from_ himself and he sobbed in frustration.

"So I'm not going to kill you now," Kincaid continued casually. "I want you to get out of here. I want you healthy. Because the next time I call you, you'll rip her head right off her body if that's what I tell you to do."

Alec felt tears of shame and utter defeat trail down his cheeks, but it was all true. There was nothing he could do. Even if Tipper said she'd found this trigger word, how could he ever be sure, or know that it was the only one, that there weren't other commands buried in his brain just waiting to be used against the people he loved.

"I knew as soon as Gordon chose me to be your liaison you would find out I had other loyalties. But that's all right. There are enough of us in place that we can still take care of you. You'll all die. We have all of Manticore's files now and so many plans… I'll just have to work somewhere other than Washington now." Kincaid stood, and he gave him one last ugly smile. "You see, Alec. We're not pretty, but we still fight dirty," he finished, turning Alec's own words back on him.

He patted Alec's arm. "We'll talk again," he said and walked out the door.

* * *

Max sat in the exam room trying not to fidget. First of all, Sam was taking forever. He'd wandered off after poking and prodding and taking blood samples and sticking her in too many machines for her comfort. He had yet to come back with her walking papers, and to add insult to injury, he'd left her with Logan, who was so not the man she wanted beside her right now.

"Relax," he said. "I'm sure the tests will come back fine."

Max frowned. As if that was even close to what she was worrying about right now? "I need to get back to Alec."

Logan gave her a look she couldn't quite interpret. "Do you really think that's such a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Max, he _shot_ you. Until you're sure-"

"You can stop right there, Logan. We've already had him cleared by our people. He's _fine_."

"But what-"

"I can't just up and leave him because of this. He's my husband," she stabbed a finger in his direction, "and if you even _think_ about saying something about that, I will hurt you here and now." She wasn't in the mood for Logan's interference. He was still holding on to some sort of hope simply because they didn't have a piece of paper signed by a government official. Max didn't have any papers saying she'd been born either, but that didn't change the fact that she was alive and breathing.

For a second, Logan looked genuinely angry. "So when you decided we should be apart because it was too dangerous, that was fine, but now that it's Alec, there's no way you'll leave him."

Max paused, and quickly realized it was true, although it would only hurt Logan for her to say so. There was no way she could leave Alec. She loved him. If anything, it was another sign that whatever she'd had with Logan, it just wasn't meant to be. It hadn't been enough. She could still kill Logan with just a touch, and there was no hope for that. But Alec… she had every hope for their future. She just had to convince her idiot husband of that.

Max got down off the exam table. "I'm not sitting here any longer."

"You should wait on Sam." Logan sounded hurt, and she was sorry for that, but she had bigger worries.

"Tell him I'll be in Alec's room," she said over her shoulder. "I wait here, wait there, makes no difference."

Max didn't linger for Logan's reply. She left the little exam room and hurried through the corridors, passing doctors, nurses and patients, occasionally getting stares and hearing whispers of, "That's _her_." She ignored it all, walking with a determined step despite how much her chest didn't like being jostled.

She almost jogged the last few feet to his room. She'd been away too long, longer than Sam had told her would be necessary.

Alec was gone. A pit forming in her stomach, she ran back out to the nearest nurse's station. "Where is he?" She pointed back toward Alec's room. "Did you take him for a test or something?"

The nurse looked up and frowned. "No. He was awake and asked me to remove the restraints, but that's all. Dr. Carr was informed and he said he would be in as soon as he was finished with you."

Max ran back into the room and threw open the cupboard near the bed. Alec's hospital gown was balled up at the bottom and the clothing she'd had them bring for when he was discharged was gone. Alec was gone.

Max snatched up the room phone and dialed Command. "Come on, come on." She tapped her foot impatiently for someone to pick up.

"_What_?" Mole growled.

"Alec's gone," Max said.

"_You lost him again_?" This time Mole sounded genuinely annoyed.

"Did he come back there?"

"_Do you two even understand the meaning of being hospitalized_?" he demanded testily. "_It's the universe's way of telling you to take a vacation_."

Max gritted her teeth in an effort not to scream. "Is. He. There?" she bit out.

Mole grumbled something indistinct that definitely had the word "leash" in it. She heard him shuffling the phone. "_Dix, pull up the tracker_," he said more clearly.

"Tracker?"

"_I attached a tracker to those clothes we sent for Alec. Had a feeling he was gonna bolt, and I'm tired of trying to figure out where he's going when he pulls one of his disappearing acts_."

"You know he's gonna kill you for that?" Max asked, too relieved to say anything else.

Mole snorted. "_He's gonna have to come back here to do that and by that time, you'll have him whipped_."

"He's gonna kill you for calling him whipped, too."

"_He can't argue with the truth, Princess_." He paused for several seconds. "_Ok, we've got a location on him_."

* * *

Alec hadn't managed to get very far. There was a little motel about five blocks from the hospital. Normally, she would have been happy that he'd stayed close, but Max knew it was a sign that Alec hadn't physically been able to get away. He'd only made it to the nearest motel and been forced to give in.

Granted, he might have thought it was a good strategy. Max wouldn't have looked for him there. She'd have expected him to hole up in a far more out of the way place.

She walked into the lobby and up to the seedy looking man behind the desk. "You have somebody check in here an hour or so ago?"

The man gave her a disapproving glare. "My customers got a right to their privacy," he answered, and from the way he was looking at her Max could tell he recognized her. He'd probably recognized Alec as well.

She pulled a handful of cash out of her pocket and set a nice tempting bill on the counter, sliding it across. The man tried to snatch it up, but she kept it pinned to the desk with her hand. "Room number?"

"Twelve," the man said quickly and she just as quickly allowed him to take the money.

She pulled out another bill and once again set it on the desk. "We value our privacy," she warned. "If I find out you called the media or even your mother to tell her we're here, I'll personally make sure you need a new set of teeth for Christmas. Are we clear?"

The man swallowed audibly, but he nodded. "Got it."

"Good," she said, and handed over the money. The man snagged the cash, and backed up from the desk so that he was just out of reach, as if that would do him any good. "Your boyfriend… he wasn't looking so good. You might oughta…"

Max didn't hear the rest. She was already out the door and headed toward the room.

* * *

Alec sat on the floor on the far side of the bed. Anyone who came through the door wouldn't immediately see him, and that's the way Alec wanted it. He didn't have a gun, and like almost every other place in Seattle, this was a crappy part of town. He'd probably have to foil some sort of robbery attempt before the night was over. Alec knew in his current state he would need the extra few seconds of warning.

His system had finally burned through most of the muscle relaxants and the anesthesia, but he still felt disconnected, as if not quite in control of his body. The only thing that was very, very clear was that his abdomen felt like it was on fire. He had no doubt he was an ugly mass of staples and stitches.

Alec had remembered how to get to the motel, but the trek there had almost been more than he could manage. It would be fine now, though. He would hole up here for a few days, get his strength back, and then he would leave Seattle. Alec would track down Kincaid, pull his lungs out through his nose, find those files, and Max would be safe. He couldn't be around her now. He just couldn't risk it even though it would gut him as neatly as any knife to let her go. Terminal City needed her.

Alec heard someone stop outside the motel room door. He sighed and braced himself to fight.

* * *

The lock was so easy a child could have picked it. Max opened the door and hurried inside. They were still close to the hospital, after all, and its army of press members just waiting to catch a glimpse. She figured the money she'd given the clerk would give them half an hour at the most before he decided he could afford a new set of teeth for Christmas with all the money the TV stations would give him for information on Max and Alec's whereabouts.

The bed was empty. The bathroom door was open and it was dark inside. Her eyes swept the grimy room once again, and finally she saw the mop of disheveled hair just visible on the opposite side of the bed. She rounded it quickly and saw Alec, head down, sitting on the floor his legs out in front of him, barely conscious.

Max knelt in front of him. "Alec?"

Almost faster than she could see, he landed a fist aimed right at her nose. Max fell back, stars appearing in her vision. She felt her nose gingerly and decided it wasn't broken, but not for lack of trying.

Max sat back up and knelt in front of him again, this time her hands in front of her in the universally acknowledged I'm-unarmed position, which would also allow her to be ready to catch another fist before it could make contact.

Alec was blinking owlishly past sunken, dark-circled eyes. She looked him over, and worriedly noticed that he was bleeding again. The front of his shirt was spotted with blood and the top of his pants were soaking up blood that had seeped through his bandages.

"Max?"

"Yeah, it's me."

Lines appeared between his brows as he frowned. "I punch you?"

"Yeah," she answered, allowing her displeasure to show. "Thanks."

"Hurt you," he said, seeming to sag against the wall even further as fresh guilt weighed on him. "Sorry," he whispered, closing his eyes and turning his head to the side, as if he didn't even deserve to look at her.

"Alec, how did you get here?" He barely seemed capable of moving, let alone managing to get through the press who were blocking all of the doors to the hospital.

"Roof," Alec answered.

"You _jumped_?" Max demanded. Max had used an underground walkway that was only for staff use to get out of the building without being seen. She'd decided against the roof because the next building over was close, but it was a couple of stories shorter and would have jarred her too badly.

"No choice. Too many reporters."

Max thought it was no wonder he was bleeding again. She would have to get him back to Dr. Carr and let him decide how much damage Alec had done. "Come on," she said, reaching for his arm. "We need to get you back to the hospital."

Alec clumsily pulled his arm out of her grip. "No."

Max gritted her teeth, but ordered herself to stay calm. "Fine. We'll take you back to TC, and see if we can bring Sam in to check on you."

"No," Alec said again, his voice stronger this time.

"You can't stay here," Max stated the obvious.

Alec finally opened his eyes again, and looked straight at her. They were a feverish green, but resolute, and Max felt her heart skip a beat. He drew in a breath, visibly gathering his failing strength. "You're right, Max," he said. "I can't stay here."

"If you are about to say _anything_ about it being too dangerous to stay with me, I will kick your ass," she warned. "Don't think I won't just because you're hurt."

Alec smiled sadly. "You know it's true. We were just lucky this time. Next time, I'll kill you."

"Tipper and her crew cleared you," Max said. "They're going to give it one more pass, and then they'll be sure."

Alec raised a hand and ran it over his face tiredly. His hand was smeared with blood and, without realizing, he left a streak across his forehead and stubbled cheek. "Kincaid came by the hospital."

"What?" Max demanded, but he was already talking over her.

"They have _all_ of Manticore's files. Psy-ops had me for a long, long time. Tipper thinks she dug out this one, but what if there are more?" He tapped the side of his head.

"What if there aren't?" she countered. "Tipper knows what she's doing. Her crew can check every last one of us, if that will make you feel better. We all spent time in psy-ops at some point."

"Max," he tried, almost desperately, "I don't want to hurt you."

"Guess what?" she shot back. "I don't want you to hurt me either. And you won't."

"Won't have a choice," he said brokenly.

"You know what, Alec? I am tired of the crap you're shoveling."

Alec's brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"I married a man who wasn't afraid of anything, who promised he would stay with me, and damn the rest of the world that was against us."

"I'm trying to keep you safe!"

"Then stay _with_ me!" she shouted back. "You're my backup. I trust you to watch out for me, not Mole, or Slick, or whoever."

"I'll come back," Alec said quietly, and Max's anger instantly deflated.

"What?"

"I'll hunt Kincaid down, I'll kill him, I'll find the files, and I'll come back." He tipped his head back to rest it against the wall and gave her a lopsided smile. "You think I could really leave you forever, Maxie?" He grasped her left hand lightly in his and brought it to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss over the ring she wore, _his_ ring. "I try to be a good guy for you, Maxie, but I can't be that good. I know I'm not strong enough to stay away. I kept telling myself I should, but I know I can't."

"That so?"

"It's a given fact you're irresistible." His lips twitched in amusement. "And don't look so smug."

Max raised one eyebrow. "You know you're a moron, right?"

Alec snorted. "I'm pretty sure I've been told that a time or two."

"Good. Cause you are." She placed both of her hands on either side of his face and leaned forward. She kissed him tenderly and then pulled back just far enough that she could see his eyes. "Alec, I trust you. And I trust our people to know what they're doing when they give you the all-clear. And I trust our people to hunt Kincaid down and make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."

"Max-"

"We'll get them, Alec. They can talk all they want, and make all the threats they want, but at the end of the day we'll still kick their asses."

Alec smirked. "You know I love it when you get all militant."

"We'll get them," she said again. "Trust me on that." She locked eyes with him. "You do trust me?"

"Always," he answered.

"Then come home," she said simply.

Max held her breath, waiting and willing him to agree. He had to know that she couldn't do this without him anymore. He thought that she was what kept Terminal City moving forward, but she knew the truth. It was Alec. Alec kept her grounded and he was all that kept her motivated to continue to push Terminal City forward. If he left, then TC was in deep trouble, because she would follow him wherever he went. The trouble would be temporary, of course, because she would drag him back kicking and screaming if she had to, but still…

Max could see it on his face when he made his decision and she loved him all the more for it. He didn't let just anyone see what he was feeling, not about the important stuff. Just her.

"Come home," she whispered.

He sighed and leaned forward. "Ah, Max," Alec returned the kiss she'd given him and then some, "I am home."

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed it. We'll see if the muse will strike again to take care of Kincaid and his evil minions…_


End file.
